LEXINGTON — It’s a good thing Brayden Fogle has broad shoulders.
Lexington’s imposing 6-foot-4, 235-pound senior has seemingly been carrying the weight of the world his entire career.
The fact that Fogle, a University of Georgia football recruit, has managed all the outsized expectations is a testament to his mental composition. He has the psychological makeup to match all of his physical attributes.
“I had a lot of expectations on me coming in as a freshman, but I thought it was cool. People knew who I was,” Fogle said. “You have to be able to handle those expectations.”
Basketball Prodigy
Fogle was a household name in north central Ohio basketball circles before he stepped foot inside Lexington High School.
He starred on the youth AAU circuit and picked up his first Division I college basketball offer from Youngstown State in April of 2022 — the spring of his eighth-grade year. Offers from Arizona State and Texas A&M arrived before he scored his first varsity basket or grabbed his first varsity rebound.
In all, Fogle had eight Division I basketball offers before the start of his sophomore year.
“Basketball was my first love,” Fogle said.
Coming in as a high-profile freshman wasn’t without its challenges. Like any 14-year-old, Fogle worried about fitting in. Unlike most 14-year-olds, Fogle navigated the high school landscape with a spotlight aimed at him.
“I struggled a little bit,” Fogle said. “Some of the high-schoolers were saying things, as a lot of high-schoolers do about the younger kids coming up.
“Once I got into high school, I loved those kids. The kids who were seniors when I was a freshman, I still talk to a lot of them. I made so many new friends my freshman year, people who I didn’t grow up with.”
Lexington shared the Ohio Cardinal Conference basketball championship with New Philadelphia in 2023 and Fogle was an OCC first-teamer. The Minutemen repeated as OCC champs in 2024 and Fogle was selected the conference Player of the Year. He earned a spot on the All-Ohio first team in Division II after averaging 14.5 points and 8.2 rebounds a game.
Football was largely still an afterthought at the time.
“(Former Mansfield Senior football coach) Chioke Bradley told me back in the seventh grade that I would be playing college football,” Fogle said. “For me, I didn’t believe it until probably my sophomore year. That February was when I got my first offer.”
Fogle shifts gears
Syracuse was the first major college to offer Fogle a football scholarship in February of 2024. By the time his sophomore year came to a close, he had offers from six schools.
By the end of that summer, college football royalty Georgia and Michigan entered the Fogle sweepstakes. LSU, Auburn, Notre Dame and Penn State would eventually throw their hats in the ring.
“I was getting (football) offers and basketball just wasn’t … I still enjoyed playing basketball, but football games were so much more exciting than basketball games for me,” Fogle said.
“There’s a reason so many people love college football.”
Fogle proved why virtually every major-college program was pursuing him during a sensational junior season.
He caught 59 passes for 792 yards and five touchdowns as the Minutemen overcame an 0-3 start to reach the Division III playoffs. Once there, Lex won a pair of road games before falling to eventual state runner-up Toledo Central Catholic in the regional semifinals.
Fogle was selected All-Ohio first team in Division III.
“He matured a lot physically and mentally,” Lex quarterback and Michigan State recruit Joe Caudill said of his longtime friend. “He came to terms with who he was. When people know who you are, the things you do and the way you act matters. He definitely matured in that way.”
That emotional maturing continued last winter. Fogle suffered a broken wrist in Lexington’s regional semifinal loss to Toledo Central Catholic and missed the first half of the basketball season.
“It gave me time to think. You think about where you are and where you want to be and what you want to change,” Fogle said of the injury. “
I wouldn’t say it was a good thing but it was nice that I had that time to really think. I realized I had to turn it up a notch. There’s more that I want to do.”
Decision Day came on Independence Day
Fogle eventually narrowed his college choices to Georgia, LSU and Penn State earlier this summer. He cast his lot with the Bulldogs on the Fourth of July.
“Honestly, Georgia was always up front,” Fogle said of the university in Athens, about 71 miles northeast of Atlanta.
“When I was there, I just knew. Something about that place was special and I just knew that was where I wanted to be.”
Georgia recruited Fogle as a tight end, a position he hasn’t played much high school. More often than night on Friday nights, Fogle has been an outside receiver. A Georgia tight end has been drafted in each of the past six NFL drafts.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart is getting a good one, Lex coach Andrew Saris said.
“Brayden came in with a lot of expectations. For any young kid, it can’t be easy,” Saris said. “He is a kid in our building who does all the right things. He’s obviously a tremendous athlete, but he is a great student and a great person.
“He’s somebody we’re very proud of at Lexington.”
‘You don’t have to do everything alone’
No north central Ohio high school athlete in recent memory has shouldered as many expectations as Fogle. He credits the people around him for keeping him grounded.
“One thing I’ve learned is you don’t have to do everything alone,” Fogle said. “You have to be able to find your people and know that you’re solid in those people and you can go to those people no matter what.”
The lessons he’s learned in the athletic arena have translated to everyday life.
“It’s one day at a time, because tomorrow isn’t promised,” Fogle said. “Anything can happen so get the most out of every day and try to take the most you can from every experience.
“That’s a general principle of life. Everything that happens to you, good or bad, happens for a reason. Now learn from that and go be 1 percent better every day.”