Football, Wrestling, Baseball
Favorite athlete: Brett Favre
Favorite team: Oregon Ducks
Favorite memory competing in sports: When my teammate, Isaac Flowers, caught an interception off a tip against Bensalem this year.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: One of our coaches went up to one of my teammates last year for a chest bump after a touchdown, and my teammate just ran by him.
Music on iPod: Hip-Hop, Country
Future plans: Undecided
Words to live by: “it's not how big you are, it's how big you play.”
One goal before turning 30: To be successful.
One thing people don’t know about me: I hate the sound of cracking knuckles.
By GORDON GLANTZ
While Trysten Hunt pushes himself in the classroom for top grades, it is all about the letter “F” for him.
Family and football.
True, the Univest Featured Male Athlete of the Week wrestles and plays baseball for Harry S. Truman, but they serve secondary purposes.
While both keep him busy, which he prefers to being stagnant, wrestling at the 220-pound weight class keeps him shape and trolling the outfield is more for “fun.”
Football, though, is a passion.
It is about blood, sweat and tears.
About leaving nothing on the field.
“Oh yeah, football is my main sport,” confirmed the senior running back/linebacker.
And while he considers his Tiger teammates “brothers for life,” nothing beats the family bond built by his parents, Marlyn and Nicole.
“My dad,” he says, quickly, when asked who has been his greatest source of inspiration and source of support, pointing out the lesson he has learned at his father’s knee about athletics and life, not to be mention the infinite car rides to games and pep talks on the way home when the scoreboard isn’t kind.
But he doesn’t forget mom.
“My mom helps me with my homework and is always there supporting me at my games.” he said. “She always gets on me about my school work and always tries to help me improve. Both of my parents are a great support system, and I'm so blessed to have a pair of parents like them.
“I also love doing stuff with my family. I'm not like other teenagers who always go out with their friends and never make time for the most important people in their lives.”
Needless to say, sports are big part of the Hunt household. He is following a trail already blazed.
“I have one sister (Bridget Hunt) who is playing softball at the University of Binghamton in New York,” said Hunt. “She is doing extremely well. She was the first person ever to hit for the cycle in school history. She did that when she was a freshman. Binghamton is about three hours away, so I only get to see her on holidays and summer. I guess you can say sports are a big deal in my family.
“But my sister and myself wouldn't be where we are today without our parents. They both work very hard, and their work ethic rubbed off on (us). They really made sure we didn't go down the wrong road, and we couldn't thank them enough for that.”
In The Hunt
The rise of the Truman football program – now under the guidance of Jon Craig, who took the baton from Ed Cubbage – is one of the more inspiring stories in the Suburban One League.
While the Tigers are not considered one of the circuit’s elite teams, they are in the mix, which is a long way from where they were a few years back.
And anyone close to the program can pretty much trace it to Hunt, who began playing varsity snaps as a freshman when there was an injury to a starter.
“Trysten has been a starter for our program since his freshman year, when he had to step in for an injured player in a game against Pennsbury,” said Craig. “Since that moment, he has never looked back, and he embodies all of the things a football coach is looking for in a quality player. He's fast, tough, dedicated, coachable and just an all-around a good kid. Trysten is a captain and leader on our team, and they often look for him to make big plays in key situations.”
While Truman’s roster now stands at an impressive 71 bodies, a number that would have been inconceivable a few years back, he is one of about a half dozen who go both ways.
“I like it that way,” said Hunt, adding that he only gets a breather for special teams.
The Tigers won one game in Hunt’s freshman year, then three in his second. Last year, after winning three of their first nine, they won the last three to finish 6-6. They are 2-2 heading into Friday night’s clash with CB West.
“We are absolutely turning things around,” said Hunt. “I think we are on the verge. We keep fighting adversity and doing what we have to do to get the job done.
“Coach Craig is doing a great job. The whole coaching staff really prepares us for the games. We have more film study this year. Every day, after practice, we study the film.”
Double Threat
Back in seventh grade, Hunt caught a glimpse of a life without football.
He didn’t like the vision
“I had a D in seventh grade,” he said. “My father said, ‘You know, if you don’t do well in the classroom, you won’t get to play football.’”
Enter Trysten Hunt, the student-athlete, who currently boasts a 3.4 grade-point average.
“That’s really where it started,” he said.
And he also knows where it could lead, which is to more doors opening at the collegiate level than if his work in the classroom didn’t match that on the field.
“I know I won’t be limited,” he said, adding that he hasn’t heard from too many schools yet, but is confident that it will fall into place.
“I’m looking at colleges, but I haven’t broken it down,” he continued. “”Don’t want to look at it right now. I’m looking back at how time has flown by. I’m making the most out of this season. I know this is our last season together.”
The final game of the season will be bittersweet for the coaching staff, namely Craig.
“Trysten approaches the classroom, the same way he approaches the game field,” said the coach. “He works hard to improve upon the areas where he struggles, and his family has made education a priority in his household, which he takes very seriously.
“It will be tough to see Trysten graduate because he has been a pillar within our program for the last four years, but he will make a college football coach very happy next year, and I expect him to have the same types of success on the field and in the classroom next fall.”
Tackling Adversity
In terms of individual adversity, Hunt has had his share, even though he downplays it and makes no excuses.
“I’ve had my share of injuries,” he said.
The first came after his sophomore football season. While preparing for wrestling, he tore a labrum in his shoulder and missed the wrestling and baseball seasons.
Back on the football field during camp for his junior year, Hunt tore the meniscus in his knee.
The doctor gave him a choice, which was really no choice at all. If he could handle playing in pain, he could give it a go.
“I just played through it,” he said. “I couldn’t let my teammates down. I just battled through it as much as I could.”
He finished just shy of 700 yards rushing, which was off the mark for the intended goal of 1,000, but that’s where the part about not making excuses comes in.
“No, I got just under 700 yards because I got under 700 yards,” he said. “I’m not going to blame it on the injury.”
Hunt had established himself as leader by example before his junior year, but surely cemented it heading it into this year, when he was named a co-captain.
It was a role he relishes, especially when he senses his lead is being followed, whether it is during summer workouts in the weight room four times a week or rallying the troops in the defensive huddle after a back-breaking first down was yielded on a key third down.
“I’ll just say something like, ‘We gotta get back to work. We can’t mope.’ I feel like the guys look at me and follow,” he said.
“I feel good about it. It’s a role I take on, even going back to when I was a sophomore. Others kind of look to me. I’m more of a quiet guy. Guys look at me and how I react. I want to set a good example.”
Walking Away A Winner
It would be easy, and almost understandable, for a player in Hunt’s position to begin putting himself before the team.
He could think about individual stats – like 100 solo tackles and 1,000 yards rushing – and raising his stock with colleges who haven’t put him on their radar screens yet.
But that’s just not who he is or what he is all about.
He takes more pride in seeing others share the glory.
“A lot of guys are stepping up this year,” he said. “It’s not just about one person. For example, on offense, we have a lot of guys with the ability to take it to the house.
“I just want to talk more about my teammates and I wouldn't trade those guys for the world. They're family. Everyone likes each other, and it's really the only guys I hang out with when I do hang out with friends. I'm surely going to miss all of them when it's all over.”
And nothing would make it sweeter than a winning season, after beginning with a one-win season as a freshman.
And again, it is not just about him.
“A winning season would not only be good for the program, but it would also be good for the school and the community,” he said. “A winning season would really catch people's attention in the community and more people would come to the games.
“Also, football will become important again in Bristol Township. Everyone knows that we are getting better and better every year. We have been working our way towards that and a winning season would really make that happen.”
