By Foster Nicholas | Sports Editor, Braden Murray | LTVN Sports Director
When Bryson Washington sprinted out of the tunnel and through the Baylor Line before football’s non-conference clash against Air Force, it was just like any other game. Under his pads he had tucked a note he had written to his dad, who he lost at 3 years old. Then he jogged onto the field as he had done since high school.
LTVN’s Braden Murray details Washington’s path to Baylor.
The only difference was that the redshirt freshman running back was slated for his first collegiate start. Even with his excitement building, his pregame routine was the same as it always was.
Washington weaved his way through teammates stretching in the end zone and set up shop at the back pylon. There, the Franklin native bowed his head, prayed and whispered a message to his dad, Bobby Washington, before jogging over to the sideline.
From the first row of the bleachers behind the Baylor bench, his mom Sherita Anderson looked on knowing her son was about to have the moment he was waiting for. And in the moments leading up to kickoff, she could feel her husband’s presence leading Bryson toward his breakout.
“When it comes down to his father, I’d just say that’s going to be the way Bryson wins because he really thrives off making his father proud,” Anderson said. “Whatever he’s done, whatever he’s going to do, it’s just going to be a bonus.”
Keeping the memory alive
Like his son Bryson, Bobby was a football star in his own right. Donning the No. 47 with “Washington” etched on his back, Bobby suited up for Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Dallas, where in his senior season, he helped the Eagles to an undefeated 5-0 campaign.
On the day after Thanksgiving in 2007, at just 27 years old, Bobby was shot and killed while working the door at a party to help out a friend. Though he passed when Bryson’s siblings were 5,2 and 1, the memory of their father never faded.
“Their father was a light, like no matter where he went, he always brought sunshine around him,” Anderson said. “People say, ‘Oh, you can’t remember who your father was because you were so little.’ But in the little time that God allowed their father, Bobby, to be with us, he was there.”
Bobby would spend quality time picking pecans with his 5-year-old daughter as he walked her to and from school every day. As for boy time, they could almost always be found outside playing ball. Whether that be football, baseball, soccer or basketball, it didn’t matter. He was there.
“Bryson played baseball. He was a great baseball player, but he said it was too slow for him,” Anderson said. “But it was always me just keeping their minds focused on something, just keeping them busy. I never wanted to flush the memory of their father at all. So every single day, it was something that reminded me of their father, even with just looking at them.”
Threading the memories of a man who lived his life to the fullest, Anderson ensured that her children would be just as much of a light as her late husband. Through sport, faith and character, the Washington family tree has stayed strong.
“My dad is really my motivation behind football,” Bryson said. “My mom told me a lot of stories about him. He was a football player and he stepped out of football to take care of his kids, and that’s what led to him getting killed. But it motivates me. When I think about it, I just want to live out his dreams through me.”
From late-night games of hide-and-go-seek ending in tickle fights to shooting hoops or throwing a football in the front yard, each memory and story strengthened an already unbreakable bond. So when Bryson started playing flag football when he was 4 years old, every juke, touchdown and tackle meant something more.
“It lives forever. I don’t know how a kid can be so young and still have such a great memory of their father, but I think it comes from just sharing those great memories with them,” Anderson said. “I would personally encourage anybody that has lost their father or mother, that has lost her husband, just keep the memories alive. That actually helps Bryson to keep going.”
Faith and football
For eight years, Anderson led the family of five on her own, and sports served as an outlet for her children. But as important as football, baseball, basketball and soccer were, faith was just as important.
“I grew up in the church,” Washington said. “We used to go every Sunday. With football, we really don’t have as much time to go to church and stuff. So sometimes I get on YouTube, listen to some gospel, get in my mood and get the godly spirit going.”
Even with a loaded travel schedule or an early practice following a late night of studying, Bryson finds a way to connect with his spiritual side as he did growing up, even if he only has enough time to turn on his favorite gospel song, Kirk Franklin’s “Stomp.” When Anderson calls to check in and Bryson doesn’t answer, a quick text usually follows with Bryson explaining the Scripture he is reading or Bible study going on.
And of course he calls her back later. With a mixture of faith and football, Baylor was always set up to be a perfect landing spot for Bryson’s personality.
“Once I got that offer, it was over. I was ready to go to Waco,” Washington said. “My platform is football, and I can spread the word of God.”
Franklin standout
The process of finding college offers wasn’t straightforward. As a varsity starter since day one of his freshman year, Bryson took snaps at quarterback, running back, cornerback, safety and linebacker. Sometimes, he’d even play the entire game on both sides of the ball. But the now hard-nosed running back’s first love was playing the defensive side of the ball.
“I just love coming downhill and hitting somebody. It just made me feel happy,” Washington said with a grin. “I like to be the aggressor… If I could help anywhere, that’s where I want to play. Mentality-wise, I’m a defensive player, but I love to run the ball.
“That’s what I was thinking about coming out of high school. I was like, ‘Man, do I want to go play running back or defense?’ I love them both.”
Bryson wasn’t the only one thinking that, as most of his collegiate interests surrounded his play on the defensive side of the ball, even Baylor at first. Washington was recruited as a playmaking, hard-hitting linebacker with safety versatility due to his success on defense while at Franklin.
Anderson wasn’t deeply invested in sports before Bryson lit up the stage at Franklin. Even during his freshman season, she didn’t quite understand the gravity of how good her son could be. Of course, every time he went on the field he made big plays and trotted off the field with a smile, but it wasn’t Bryson’s style to talk about his talent but to instead let his play speak for itself.
“He didn’t come home and say, ‘Oh, mom, I’m a beast!’ or ‘I’m good.’ I never got that. And so when I got to hearing other people talk about, ‘Oh, your son is going to go far,’ that’s when I’m like, ‘Oh, we got something,’” Anderson said. “We got something!”
The four-year starter at running back and safety broke through in his senior season with over 2,000 rushing yards and 30 touchdowns, improving on his 1,480 rush yards and 20 touchdowns in his junior year. From there, Washington was carrying the ball at the next level and Baylor’s running back offer set that in stone.
The rest was history.
Repping the green and gold
Just a month after leading the Lions to a second straight undefeated Class 3A state championship, Washington was on campus as an early enrollee at Baylor. Working in a room with Richard Reese, Dominic Richardson and fellow freshman Dawson Pendergrass, Washington was fighting an uphill battle for playing time next to some of the best backs in the Big 12. But his freshman year didn’t go as expected.
Bryson took snaps in three games early in the season as he shone behind the scenes in practice but never found a groove on Saturdays. Beaten up with injuries and no clear path to immediate play time, Washington redshirted. As he battled through questions of whether football was still his passion, Washington worked harder than ever to make sure the 2024 season would showcase his talents again.
“I couldn’t get unfocused. I just had to keep my head down and working,” Washington said. “I used to have talks with my mom because there were times where I feel like football wasn’t meant for me at the time. But my family, they reminded me constantly, ‘Yeah, you love that. You love football. Don’t let anyone take it away from you.’ And that’s one thing I had to realize in the offseason, if you love something so much, don’t just let anything just take it away from you.”
The grind paid off as head coach Dave Aranda singled out Washington as one of the team’s premiere performers throughout training camp. Washington worked with the first team leading up to kickoff until a lingering injury held him out for the season’s first two games.
Captain of the backfield
The redshirt freshman wasn’t going to let a small setback stop him. The hard work he had put in before and during camp helped shorten the recovery time, and he was slated to start his first game in Week 3.
When the opportunity presented itself, the running back came away with 12 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown en route to a Baylor win against Air Force.
“He was really a starter going into the season, so to have him back and healthy is a big difference,” Aranda said following Washington’s breakout performance. “The violence that he plays with, his vision and his feet, makes a big difference. I think he’s a great complement as an inside guy to the outside guys that we’ve got at the running back spot. I think we can venture more into those spaces, in terms of how guys are used.”
Surrounded by faith and family through football, every time Washington lines up in the backfield, he remembers the note for his dad tucked under his pads with his dad’s No. 47 somewhere on the page. Each time he writes the note, it could be different, but in a way, Bobby is right there with him.
When Bryson swerved through defenders and stumbled into the end zone with 12:38 in the third quarter of Baylor’s 31-3 blowout win over Air Force on Sept. 14 at McLane Stadium, of course there was only one thing that crossed his mind.
“My dad was just the first thing that came to me because he’s literally my why,” Washington said. “I just want to be the best me, and I don’t feel like I was the best me even [against Air Force]. So I’m just still working to get better. I honestly don’t know what the best me is. Realistically, you’ll probably never see the best me.”
The path to pay dirt wasn’t easy for Washington, but with a taste of success, his football flames burned on high.
“When he executed and scored that touchdown, I celebrated. I just knew that’s what he needed,” Anderson said. “It really wasn’t the Air Force game for me, it was the moment that I had been waiting on for him. That’s what I was celebrating… That’s exactly what he needed to get over the hurdles he had gone through.”
After battling back from several nagging injuries to record a 100-yard game in his first collegiate start, rush for more than 2,000 yards and accumulate 30 touchdowns in a single high school season, Bryson Washington is still hungry for more. It’s never been about the stats, touchdowns or takeaways, but honoring a memory that is so ingrained within him that failure was, and will never be, an option.
So when Bryson walks over to the back pylon before each game, the prayers are never asking for success but to keep the team “out of hurt, harm and danger.” And when he talks to his “pops,” he knows Bobby is smiling down with a glowing pride that only a father can feel for his son.
