Remembering Former Notre Dame Running Back Greg Bryant

The Notre Dame football family lost one of its own this past weekend when former running back Greg Bryant passed away after he was shot in a car on Interstate 95 in Palm Beach, Fla., early Saturday morning.

The Blue & Gold Illustrated staff remembers Bryant who was known by many around South Bend simply as “GB.”

I can think of no greater tragedy in life than a family losing a child, as the Bryant family did this weekend. I immediately thought of the words from John Greenleaf Whittier: “For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, ‘It might have been.’”

In September 2014, we were able to interview the then-sophomore Bryant. He arrived as a five-star prospect — but was third team behind classmate Tarean Folston, who was more consistent, and senior captain Cam McDaniel, the top rusher the previous year and a more accomplished blocker. This was a year prior to his transfer to ASA College and then UAB after becoming academically ineligible in August 2015. Yet at that time in September 2014, Bryant was more into what Notre Dame had been like for him and shared the following thoughts in this column I wrote:

Notre Dame sophomore running back Greg Bryant has a mostly direct, honest approach. He knows when not to say something in public that might get him in trouble, but he also speaks from the heart. Thus, when prized Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., inside linebacker Te’von Coney came up for his official visit to the Sept. 6 Michigan game, Bryant, from the same area, was made his host. No sugarcoating came with it.

“I basically told him that it’s not going to be easy,” Bryant said. “It’s going to be a tough transition, it’s going to be hard, the weather and everything. … When I first got here it was tough — it was real tough. But now I’m used to it and I got used to the Indiana lifestyle.”

Then he went into the crux of his salesmanship.

“Being around the people here at Notre Dame, it just makes you a better person, makes you a man and makes you want to be successful. … I adapted to living the lifestyle of a Notre Dame student-athlete,” Bryant said. “Waking up, going to school, knowing that I’ve got to do stuff that I don’t want to do every day. It turned me into a man now and made me realize the big picture. It’s not all about football.

“It basically made me the person I am today. I’m in class raising my hand, trying to just get my teachers’ attention. They actually make you want to be better, and make you want to be a better person and make you succeed in stuff you never thought you would. … If you come here, then you’ll want to be successful, it will be in you.”

How it can all far apart and be taken away is incredibly humbling. RIP, Greg Bryant, and thoughts and prayers to his family.

— Blue & Gold senior editor Lou Somogyi

The first time I met Greg Bryant was his senior year of high school. I was in college and had just landed a gig covering local high school football games on Friday nights for The Sun Sentinel. I was panicking at the time because it was going to be my first time working on a print deadline. I remember one of the editors asked me which team I was covering and then joked that I wouldn’t have a problem once I told him it was American Heritage. I had no idea what he meant until I showed up at the game.

Bryant ran for 300-plus yards and five touchdowns in an absolute rout. I wasn’t keeping track, but he probably had more broken tackles in the first half than the other team had tackles. He singlehandedly forced a running clock and my game story was done by the third quarter, which was such a relief for me. I will never forget that. He's still one of the most dominate players I ever saw on a game field in high school and I would argue probably one of the best.

In terms of his personality off the field, he was someone that always had a smile. I bumped into him another time at an American Heritage practice when he was back in town after exams. He was helping coach the running backs during a spring practice and it was just awesome to see all of the high school players stand in awe when he went through drills.

— Blue & Gold recruiting analyst Andrew Ivins

Always A Friendly Face

Greg Bryant was always a really friendly face around the program and you can see from social media how much he touched his former teammates over the years.

Even when things weren’t going well for him on the field in 2013 and 2014, he always carried his infectious personality around with him and had a positive attitude.

He had admitted his transition to Notre Dame was difficult, but he worked hard to get everything out of his experience there and even though he ultimately transferred, the program was a better place for having Greg Bryant in it.

— Blue & Gold assistant editor Andrew Owens