Brookfield Central nose guard Bryce Gilbert almost did not make his fifth-grade Jr. Lancers football team.
"Actually, I almost never got to play football," he said. "We had lots of guys signing up for the Jr. Lancers. Out of 200 kids, I was the last one to make it. I feel very lucky I was picked. When I was an eighth-grader, the coach finally told me I was the last pick."
But heck, even Michael Jordan got cut from his high school freshman basketball team.
Gilbert, a 6-foot-2, 290-pound senior has anchored the Lancers' defensive line the past three seasons. His play has earned him NOW All-Suburban Football honors for the second straight season, as well as all-Greater Metro Conference and All-Area honors.
"He is just so physically gifted that he jumps out at you when you watch him play," Wauwatosa East coach Tom Swittel said. "The mark of a special player to me is, do you have to scheme for him? Bryce is a player you have to scheme for. He'll make you pay if you don't."
Honor off the field
Gilbert's on-the-field exploits are familiar to people who follow the Lancers, but some might have missed one of his finer moments in the season finale.
Central coach Doug Lange had put in a package that had Gilbert playing blocking back. To be eligible, Gilbert had to dump his regular number, 77, for a number he could wear in the backfield.
He turned the moment into an opportunity to salute a talented player, Xavier Whitaker.
"Immediately it popped in my head that Xavier is No. 1, and he only got to play one game and one play," Gilbert said. "I just thought I could wear his number as an honor of playing for him - just being, like, a good friend. When I asked him, he said, 'That would be really cool if you did that.' "
Whitaker, the Lancers' star running back, injured his knee on the first play of the second game and was lost for the year.
"We did it secretly," Gilbert said. "After school we just switched jerseys. When I showed up to stand in line to the buses everyone was asking me, what are you wearing No. 1 for?
"I just kept telling everybody it was because I was in the backfield. That's what people thought. I thought it meant more to me and X."
Takes two to stop him
Lange knew he had someone special in Gilbert.
"Bryce has two phenomenal qualities," he said. "He has a motor that never stops and, for a guy that weighs 290 pounds, he is extremely active. There weren't many teams that didn't double-team him."
But that is something that Gilbert has had to get used to since he started playing nose guard back in fifth grade.
"I absolutely loved it. I was a nose guard the whole time," Gilbert laughed. "I loved the physical aspect of it; you can think that you're the toughest guy on the team."
As he got older, double-teaming became the norm. Initially it frustrated him, but Central defensive coordinator Scott Nelson helped him understand his role.
"When they double-teamed me, the opponents would single-team block a tackle. I came to realize that was my job, to take those guys out of the play."
Gilbert is hoping to carry on his football career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
BY THE NUMBERS
With Bryce Gilbert
9
sacks
14
tackles for losses
340
pound bench press
480
pound squat
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Comments on Bryce Gilbert
"Bryce was a game changer every single game. The secondary knew they had to cover for a shorter time, the linebackers knew they could blitz. The other linemen knew they would be single blocked. He made everyone on the defense a better player." - Scott Nelson, Central defensive coordinator
"He is extremely strong and quick, but his greatest asset, perhaps, is the way he pursues the football. He runs from sideline to sideline and makes plays." - Tom Swittel, Tosa East coach
"I would say he has done a great job making himself into the player he is, starting in the weight room. He does a great job of being a run stuffer. He does not take plays off." - Sal Logue, Brookfield East head coach
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