Tiger Trails Brison : Prospers After Taking Circuitous Route to San Fernando High

Like many San Fernando youths before him, Brian Brison spent his autumn Friday nights dreaming of becoming a Tiger. He faithfully attended San Fernando High football games and jockeyed with his playmates for the right to carry the helmet of one of his heroes as the Tigers walked off the field.

Growing up, Brison idolized San Fernando players Chris Richards (Cal) and Brent Huff (Oregon State), each of whom earned college scholarships to Division I schools. Brison’s ties to San Fernando began a generation ago when his father, Red Brison, caught passes from Tiger quarterback Anthony Davis.

So it is not surprising that Brian has become one of the featured players for San Fernando in his senior year and only his second full season in high school.

“When you walk down the hill and come out of the cage at the 50-yard line, you feel like a Tiger running in the jungle,” Brison said.

Brison (5-foot-7, 185 pounds) is the team’s best defensive back. Because of injuries to offensive backs, he has played all four positions, including quarterback, in San Fernando’s I-bone attack. Now that LaKarlos Townsend has returned to the lineup after recovering from a knee injury, Brison has returned to fullback, where he started the season.

In San Fernando’s regular-season finale last week, Brison played his best game. He scored four touchdowns, rushed for 173 yards in only six carries and caught three passes for 90 yards as the Tigers (9-1) tuned up for tonight’s start of the City Section 4-A Division playoffs with a 43-7 rout of Reseda.

Despite playing much of the season at fullback, Brison has made big plays. He has averaged nearly 10 yards a carry, gaining 603 yards in 63 carries, including a 72-yard touchdown run. He also has caught nine passes for 225 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 25 yards a reception, including an 82-yard score.

Of his 11 touchdowns, six have covered 34 yards or more, exemplifying his speed. As a sophomore at San Fernando, he clocked 10.8 seconds in the 100 meters and 22.2 in the 200, and he is expected to rank as one of the area’s top sprinters next spring.

San Fernando Coach Tom Hernandez calls Brison a “Pac-10-type guy” and said Brison made major strides this season toward realizing his goal of earning a Division I scholarship.

“He’s definitely a Division I player,” Hernandez said. “There’s not a lot of cornerbacks or man-to-man cover guys better than him around. He’s a great athlete. We’re glad he’s finally here.”

Hernandez can emphasize “finally.” Despite his strong San Fernando ties, Brison, 18, has traversed a tortuous and tortured path to the San Fernando football field. His journey included stops at five different high schools, including two stints at San Fernando.

He began on the traditional San Fernando pipeline, competing in local youth football and track leagues. He ran on relay teams with Leonice Brown and Ontiwaun Carter, both of whom earned scholarships to Division I colleges. Brown had 1,000-yard seasons at both Crespi and San Fernando and now plays for Colorado State. Carter, Kennedy’s all-time rusher, plays at Arizona.

Brison first made news in the area with Carter and Brown in the summer of 1988 when the three athletes and Mukasa Crowe moved from Pacoima to the Westlake Village home of Buzz Holcomb, whose son Erik competed for the same youth football and track teams.

Carter, Crowe and Brown all moved out before the start of the school year in ‘88, but Brison stayed with the Holcombs and enrolled with Erik as a freshman at Westlake. However, the Southern Section ruled the two academically ineligible for athletics for the fall semester.

Brison left the Holcombs at mid-year and transferred to Alemany, Buzz Holcomb’s alma mater. As a sophomore running back and defensive back, Brison had 238 yards rushing and 208 receiving but transferred from Alemany to San Fernando in January, 1990, after Alemany suspended him for engaging in arguments with teachers.

That led to the lowest moment in Brison’s high school career. On April 30 at Birmingham High, while Birmingham track Coach Scott King and Brison’s father argued over the use of the school track, Brison stepped in and punched King.

He was arrested on battery charges, given six months probation and was suspended from San Fernando High and sent to Jane Addams, a continuation school in Granada Hills. After a hearing with City Section athletic officials, Brison was barred from athletic competition for one calendar year. Brison escaped a permanent ban only because he impressed officials with his contrition.

City Section Commissioner Hal Harkness described Brison as a personable teen-ager after the hearing, saying, “Brian appears to have a lot going for him.”

After completing his sophomore year at Addams, Brison transferred to Eldorado High in Las Vegas, where he lived with his father. After just one start on the Eldorado football team, he sustained a broken thumb and missed the rest of the season.

He returned to San Fernando for the spring semester earlier this year and regained athletic eligibility for his senior year. Brison regrets much of his long, strange trip. He wishes now he had started at San Fernando but more importantly wishes he had better control of his temper.

Everyone from his mother to his coaches to his probation officer has characterized Brison as a friendly person who impresses adults with his personable manner. But a hot temper has caused him trouble since grade school. After the King incident, he has worked hard to keep himself in check.

“I’m sorry about what happened with King,” he said. “At San Fernando this year, I haven’t got into any altercations. When someone hits me in the back during a game, I can feel that temper coming, but I just talk to myself, turn around and walk back to the huddle.”

Hernandez has watched Brison closely and more than once has seen him control himself after a bad call, resisting the temptation to fly off the handle. Instead of a problem, Brison has become a team leader, respected for his demeanor on the field and for his knowledge of the game, Hernandez said.

“I’ve seen where he could have gone off, but he’s kept his mouth shut,” Hernandez said. “There’s been no cussing or late hits. In fact, he’s a real smart football player. He’s a guy I’ll listen to.”

Glinda Brison, Brian’s mother, wishes people could see her son as she does.

“Brian has matured a lot,” she said. “I just hope for him that people will realize that Brian is a sweet kid, intelligent and people-oriented. He has a heart that is so big that his anger comes out, but it’s only because people have disappointed him. Now, he’s really getting a chance to be the Brian that I know.”

Brison still must clear an academic hurdle to position himself for a college scholarship. He has a 2.6 grade-point average and scored 680 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, 20 points shy of the NCAA-required 700. And when he faces doubts about his future, he turns for advice to a childhood friend: Russell White.

The Cal running back who played at Crespi High grew up in San Fernando near Brison and has followed his high school career.

“Brian has had hard times and he needs to keep at things,” White said. “I wish the best for him.”

Brison has received letters from dozens of colleges with Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and Fresno State showing strong interest. Despite his checkered high school career, he still might leave high school with a college scholarship in hand.

Regardless, he has cherished his senior season, relieved that his odd route through high school has ended at San Fernando.

“To be a San Fernando athlete, you start young, going to games and getting Tiger pride early,” he said. “You have to have heart to play on this field. This is my home and I’m glad to be back.”