MANSFIELD โ Chioke Bradleyโs office at Cyprus High School is a cacophony of 21st-century technology, all cell-phone notifications and desktop-computer alerts.
Mansfield Seniorโs longtime football coach can hardly complete a thought before the next electronic interruption vibrates the mobile device left momentarily unattended on his desk, the accompanying ding reverberating off the walls of the cramped space.
Everyone, it seems, wants a moment of Bradleyโs time โ including a pair of recruiters, one wearing a pullover with the logo of a prominent Division I college program emblazoned across the chest, waiting in the lobby.
The high school football season is busy. The run-up to National Signing Day, traditionally the first Wednesday in February, can be even busier.
Bradley wouldnโt have it any other way.
โItโs why I took the job,โ said Bradley, who starred at Senior High in the 1990s before becoming head coach at his alma mater in 2010.
โWeโre not just trying to win football games. Weโre trying to provide opportunities to our kids to go on and further their education and continue to play football.โ
Historic Haul
Even by Bradleyโs standards, Mansfield Seniorโs Class of 2024 is unusual. A record nine seniors from last autumn’s Ohio Cardinal Conference championship team have committed to college programs, including FBS recruits La-La Owens (Bowling Green) and Ahmaan Thomas (Buffalo).
That record haul stands to increase as no fewer than three other seniors are mulling over offers.
When itโs all said and done, 12 of this yearโs 17 seniors could find themselves on college rosters in the fall.
Four of this yearโs seniors, JaโOntay OโBryant (Findlay), Jaโhmere Dotson (Findlay), Quinten DeBolt (Findlay) and Jermaine Bradley (Walsh) signed with Division II programs.
Three others, Jamier Petty (Heidelberg), Zyion Brown (Wittenberg) and Jaiden Grose (Kenyon) have committed to play at the Division III level.
โThis is the biggest class weโve ever had,โ Bradley said. โThis class is loaded with unbelievable talent and they are great kids, too.
โJust being a really good football player isnโt enough.โ
Recipe For Success
Since taking the job in 2010, Bradley has sent no fewer than 50 athletes to the collegiate ranks. That list includes at least one player from every graduating class along with 15 FCS signees.
โThere are a number of things that make it possible to attain a college football opportunity. You have to be a good kid off the field. You have to have good character. You have to be a good student and you have to be a good teammate.โ Bradley said.
โYou have to be a leader. You have to be resilient when adversity strikes. You have to be strong mentally and physically. You have to be a good son. You have to be a good grandson. Then you have to be a very good football player.โ
It helps to have an advocate like Bradley.
The former four-year starter at Bowling Green began opening doors for his players the moment he took over for Jamie Masi after serving as an assistant on Masiโs staff in the late-2000s.
โCoach Bradley believed in me before I believed in myself,โ said Jacob Supron, a member of Senior Highโs first Bradley-coached team in the fall of 2010 who became an All-Ivy League cornerback at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and earned a degree in mechanical engineering.
โIf Chioke hadnโt been looking out for me, I wouldnโt have had the opportunities that Iโve had.โ
Supron was one of five players who signed out of Bradleyโs first class of seniors. Six signed out of the Class of 2014, including record-setting quarterback Jalen Reese.
โChioke goes the extra mile,โ said Reese, who played at Division I Toledo and is a member of Bradleyโs coaching staff, โwhether that means taking a kid to a camp or arranging a college visit or helping a kidโs parents navigate the recruiting process.โ
What was true for Supron in 2011 and Reese in 2014 is still true in 2024.
โOne thing we know about Chioke is heโs going to get his players into college,โ said the Buffalo-bound Thomas. โWeโre lucky to have him in our corner.โ
Findlay recruit Dotson agreed.
โHe shopped my film to a lot of schools. We know heโs going to get our names out there,โ Dotson said. โItโs a blessing to have him.โ
For Bradley, itโs not only about getting kids into college. He tries to find the right fit for his players.
โItโs very strategic and stressful,โ Bradley said. โWeโre trying to put a good product not just on the field, but in the hands of college football programs.
โWe build relationships with college coaches and we want to be sure they keep coming back.โ
The blueprint is working, said DeBolt, the Findlay-bound kicker.
โCoach Bradley has a good reputation among college coaches and when he talks you up, they pay attention,โ DeBolt said. โHis word means something to them.”
Summer Camp
One piece of the puzzle is exposing players to college football programs during the summer camp circuit, which has become an increasingly important part of the recruitment of high school players.
Bradley has been taking his players to summer camps in June and July for as long as heโs had the job.
โThatโs just something I brought to the table when I got on staff as an assistant,โ Bradley said. โThose summer camps have been a resource for our kids and for kids at other districts in the area, too.
โIf a kid who goes to Lexington or Shelby or Madison or Ontario wants to jump in the car with mom and dad and follow us to one of these camps, weโve always encouraged that.โ
Road Less Taken
Mansfield Seniorโs historic Class of 2020 boasted seven college signees, all of whom played key roles as seniors on the 2019 team that reached the Division III state championship game. One of the members of the Class of 2020, TyโLheir Grose, recently committed to Division I Eastern Michigan after attending Lackawanna Community College in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
โNot everyoneโs journey is the same,โ Bradley said. โYou look at guys from that class like (Michigan Stateโs) Angelo Grose and (Bowling Greenโs) Anthony Hawkins, who went straight from high school to Division I football.
โThen you have TyโLheir, who took a less traditional path. Itโs a testament to his perseverance. Weโre so proud of him.โ
Long Game
When he was a star defensive back at Bowling Green in the mid-1990s, Bradley had a long heart-to-heart talk with his position coach. That coach, current Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, imparted some advice that has stuck with Bradley ever since.
โWe had a conversation in his office when I was a junior in college. He said, โChioke, youโre looking at football the wrong way. Itโs not the four-year plan. Itโs the 40-year plan,โ โ Bradley remembered. โHe said you are going to play football for however many years, but youโre going to have the rest of your life to live. That degree that football will allow you to get will take care of the 40-year plan.
โYouโre going to play football for four or five years in college. Football will take care of those four or five years. The degree takes care of the 40 years.โ
Itโs the same advice that Bradley offers the players he sends to the college ranks.
โFootball doesnโt last forever,โ said Reese, who earned a degree in finance from Toledo and is a certified financial planner with Northwestern Mutual. โThe clock is always ticking, whether you play through high school or you play 10 years in the NFL.โ
Pay It Forward
While seeing his former players excel on collegiate fields is satisfying, what brings a smile to Bradleyโs face is watching them give back to their community.
โThatโs what allows me sleep good at night,โ Bradley said. โA lot of these kids are first-generation college kids. No one in their family has ever stepped foot on a college campus. For these kids to be given an opportunity to interrupt that cycle is a blessing.
โYou know you are doing things right when you help kids get an opportunity and they take advantage of the opportunity and now they are back giving back to the community. That is when the plan has come full circle. โ
Those words are music to the ears of Mansfield City Schools Superintendent Stan Jefferson. Jefferson was Senior Highโs coach in the fall of 1993, Bradleyโs senior year.
โIโm reminded of the statement by the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. โLifeโs most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others?โ โ Jefferson said. โI am just so proud of him.โ