Football
Favorite athlete: Cam Newton
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning the Turkey bowl against Abington my sophomore year.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: My pants got pulled down getting tackled
Music on iPod: Hip Hop/ Rap
Future plans: Have a job in Sports Marketing
Words to live by: Never give up
One goal before turning 30: Having a degree in Sports Marketing
One thing people don’t know about me: When I was little I use to cry about football practice.
By GORDON GLANTZ
When Branden Mack first started playing Pop Warner football, he used to cry about going to practice.
He didn’t see the point of lining up against your own teammates in drills.
Then his team, the Enon Eagles, played a game.
And he was hooked.
Practice was not a crying matter anymore.
Now Mack, Cheltenham’s dual-threat quarterback and free safety, makes the opposition feel like crying.
The same goes for the schools – private high schools and Division I programs – vying for his services.
He stayed loyal to Cheltenham, a choice that led to him getting on the college recruiting radar sooner and leading to scholarship offer from the geographically closest Division I program, Temple.
Mack readily accepted.
“Temple always followed me, and it always felt like home to me,” he said, adding that no other schools were seriously considered, despite as many as a dozen schools showing serious interest after his junior season.
The same goes for some of the private high schools trying to lure him away from coach Joe Gro at Cheltenham, who is certainly grateful the Univest Featured Male Athlete of the Week stayed.
“He stayed,” said Gro, who called Mack up to the varsity squad as a freshman and made a two-way starter by his sophomore year. “And he worked through everything.
“I’m proud of him. I think of some of the best kids I’ve had through the years, and he is as fine as I’ve had. He is our most gifted player, but he also exemplifies what we talk about. He leads everything we do.”
According to Mack, it points to how he was raised by his parents – Darryl Sr. and Nicole – as the words “never give up” are not just a saying for Mack.
They are a way of life.
“I was taught to never give up, even if something is going wrong,” he said. “I use that every day. In every practice I have. In games, I do the same thing.
“I’m glad I (stayed at Cheltenham). It gave me a better chance of getting noticed. In the league I’m in now, I’ve been able to stand out.”
The Big Brother
Mack refers to himself as a “big brother” to his younger teammates, just as many seniors were to him as a promising sophomore, and he uses his status as an inbound recruit to a Top-25 program to prove a point.
“I wanted to prove I could make my own way and prove you can still stay at a public school and get a good education and still get a scholarship,” he said, adding that the “never give up” mantra is carried over to the classroom.
“Without education, you can’t do anything in life, period,” he said. “If football doesn’t work out, at least I know I’ll have my degree.
“My mom and dad have always pushed me to better myself. If I get a B, they tell me I can get an A the next time.”
Gro knew Mack handled the school books as well as the playbook, but it really became crystalized for the longtime coach when the recruiting wave began.
“A lot of things with Branden aren’t just about football,” said Gro. “When we went through his transcripts, I think there was one C-plus. He got an A or a B in every other class.
“He did that on his own. There was parental support at home, but I was never breathing down his neck about it. He made that choice on his own. Academically, he just buckled down.”
Gro is notorious for a coaching approach akin to a drill sergeant at boot camp. He will yell at a player, but it is only because he wants to bring out the best in him.
Mack gets it, but knows some of the younger players with more delicate psyches do not. As such, he has often been a buffer and taken the blame on himself for miscues like not putting the ball exactly where it could be caught.
“It is part of me being a leader,” said Mack. “When I was younger, I didn’t always like it when (Gro) yelled. Being a leader, I like to take responsibility. I try to be the same type of big brothers that I had talking to me. I had my big brothers – Chris Myarick (a redshirt freshman tight end at Temple), Mark Heimann, Isaiah Morris and Darius Perry-Smith – who kept talking to me. They taught me what to do and what not to do.
“It helped me in the long run. I always had people in my corner, supporting me.”
Mack’s willingness to take heat has not been lost on Gro.
“The most amazing thing is when I went to reprimand a kid, he took it all on himself,” said Gro. “He covered the kid up, ‘He said, ‘Coach, I’m the one who is supposed to make that work, and I didn’t make it work.’”
The Fourth Quarter
When he holds court with the younger teammates, many of whom have stars in their eyes about hitting the big-time, Mack makes sure to let them know it is not that simple.
“I talk to my teammates when they are joking around about playing Division I football,” he said. “I tell them they need to work hard, hit the weight room and hit the books.”
The future Owl now has the coaching staff from the nationally ranked program on North Broad Street already talking about him.
At 6-4 and 195 pounds, he attended a Temple camp and was put through the paces and various positions.
“They want to see how I look when I put some weight on,” said Mack. “Each coach wants you to play their position.”
And that information comes straight from the top, from the head coach, Matt Rhule.
“He said, ‘In meetings, they are arguing about you,’” said Mack. “I told coach Rhule, ‘I’ll play wherever you need me to play.’ I’m willing to do anything to get onto the field. I love competition. Anything I can do to help the team, I’m willing to do it.”
Gro can envision Mack weighing 235 pounds “before you can blink,” and figures he’ll end up on the defensive side of the ball.
“But it’s their dime,” he said. “They can spend how they want.”
Before that all comes about, Mack is still willing to do anything he can to help his current team end an up-and-down 2015 season on a high note, bringing a Hollywood ending to Wyncote, Pa.
With two games remaining, the Panthers are 4-5 with games against Harry S. Truman and crosstown rival Abington on Thanksgiving Day.
They will go as far one player – the quarterback/safety/long-snapper who Gro says would be the best player for him at any position on the field – can take them in the ultimate team sport.
“I take everything through Branden,” said Gro, adding that he proudly wears a target on his back for the opposition.
“They all do,” the coach added. “They go after him on defense, and certainly on offense.”
Feeling the pressure? At this point, no way. The days of crying before Pop Warner football practice are long gone.
“We are just going to take it one game at a time,” he said.
