Quarterback Bradyn Fleharty powers Hilliard Bradley football with game-changing skill set
As a two-year starter at offensive tackle for Hilliard Bradley, Julian Dandridge is a primary blocker for one of the area’s most prolific quarterbacks.
But Dandridge’s first thoughts when it comes to teammate and fellow senior Bradyn Fleharty are not necessarily of the signal caller's 7,924 all-purpose yards and 79 touchdowns, both of which are Jaguars program records by a wide margin.
“He’s saved me from getting yelled at, a ton.” Dandridge said, struggling to get through his story without laughing. “Sometimes I mess up, but he cleans it up and he cleans it up really well.
“Sometimes guys slip past me – it happens to everybody – but (Fleharty) has some quick legs. We call him ‘white lightning’ around here. He’s pretty speedy.”
Fleharty, the district’s Offensive Player of the Year in Division I, will guide second-seeded Bradley (11-1) into a Region 3 semifinal against No. 3 seed Pickerington North (11-1) on Friday at DeSales. He said the nickname originated during a track meet his sophomore year.
“I won the 100, 200 and 400 (meters), and I’ve just been called ‘white lightning’ ever since then,” Fleharty said. “It’s just stuck.”
As should his legacy long after he graduates into a future that, at the moment, seems wide open.
Fleharty started as a freshman at Lima Bath, throwing for 1,107 yards, but greater athletic opportunities helped bring him to Hilliard after that school year. He started immediately, passing for 1,374 yards and 10 touchdowns as a sophomore, then broke out even more a season ago, amassing 1,978 yards and 21 touchdowns with 10 interceptions.
Increased offseason work and weight training that brought Fleharty to his current height and weight of 6 feet, 3 inches and 195 pounds, not to mention confidence gleaned from three seasons running an offense, have taken his game to another level.
Fleharty has completed 158 of 288 passes this season for 2,431 yards and 28 touchdowns. He has trimmed his interceptions to three, and balanced that with 1,171 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns on 178 carries.
“One of my strengths is being able to improvise,” Fleharty said. “If a play breaks down, I think that one of my strengths is being able to pick up yards with my legs or just remember scramble drills with my receivers, and we can make plays (that way).
“A lot of it has come with confidence and putting in work in the offseason. I’ve always been a running quarterback, but I didn’t really start using my legs until my junior season.”
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Bradley coach Mike LoParo said a prime example came in last week’s 27-22 regional quarterfinal win over No. 7 Westerville North. An outside zone play with Fleharty throwing to the sideline was called, but North overloaded on that side, so Fleharty darted the other way for 10 yards and a first down.
He ran 6 yards for the winning touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
“He does things like that that you just can’t teach,” LoParo said. “He is the most competitive kid I’ve ever coached. Sometimes it’s good and sometimes that’s bad. You can be at practice and doing a daily drill and it’s competitive. He gets real edgy about that when he doesn’t win. That’s just who he is and how he is driven, how he’s wired.
“But when you get that on a football field on a Friday night, now you’ve got something.”
Fleharty needs 111 passing yards to become Bradley’s single-season leader. He is 186 shy of the single-season rushing record.
Fleharty committed to Yale in June but is keeping his options open. He visited Air Force last weekend and hopes a strong finish to this season will draw more attention.
“We’ll see what comes,” Fleharty said. “But I’m not really making any decisions right now. I’ll wait until after the season and see what happens.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: OHSAA football playoffs: QB Bradyn Fleharty powers Hilliard Bradley
