More News

Three hundred-fifty miles separate Montgomery County from Ohio University — making their relationship unique, if not remarkable.

The 2010 Bobcats roster suggests a pipeline: Issa Braithwaite (2007 Wheaton alumnus), Xavier Hughes (Seneca Valley, 2009) and Stephane N'goumou (Wootton, 2009).

It is completely coincidental.

One high school league and a distant Division I program entwined three times, for three different — and unrelated — reasons.

"They found me through Facebook, really," said N'goumou, an All-Gazette first-team wide receiver as a senior. "One of the fans or whatnot talked to me about Ohio and all of a sudden one of the coaches got sent a tape of me. I took my official visit just three weeks ago."

All it took was one day for the Rockville native to "fall in love," and get his official introduction to college football — finally. Filled out for a high schooler at 6-foot-4 and over 200 pounds, his physical presence earned him a scholarship to Iowa. He was going to play in the Big Ten, until his academic standing disqualified him from a roster spot just before summer practices.

Off he went to Milford Academy in New Berlin, N.Y., a prep school that has produced 21 NFL players. He did not particularly enjoy it, but "at the end of the day, it made me strong."

The operative word, "strong," charges the other Montgomery storylines.

Nearly four years ago, Seneca Valley beat Wheaton in the 2006 season opener. It was the first varsity game Hughes, then a sophomore, ever played in.

It was Braithwaite's last.

"Jourdan Brooks broke his leg," Hughes remembered. "And Issa still talks trash for some reason. I'm like, ‘We beat you, OK?' "

Now teammates, Hughes has only positives for his defensive backfield mate, calling him "a brainiac who knows our defense inside and out."

Yet it was not football that brought Braithwaite to Athens rather than his second choice, Towson. An academic scholarship punched his ticket to "the only school that stuck with me football-wise."

After his lost senior season, he never expected to play again. But the itch — and boredom — led to a face-to-face meeting with head coach Frank Solich.

"It's hard to just give up," he said. "When I came here, the only other person I knew was [former Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Ohio men's basketball player] Mo Pearson, so I was hanging out with the basketball team. And I guess I just felt I could contribute to the football team."

After his first semester, Braithwaite attended a tryout with 60 other students, and fulfilled a prediction made by a one-time mentor. Braithwaite used to train in Gaithersburg with the late founder of Elite Athletic Training Systems, Jason Hadeed, who was shot and killed on Feb. 8, 2008.

"Jason told me special teams was where I'd get my opportunity," Braithwaite said. "At OU, they really value walk-ons. With only 85 scholarships, they can't run a program without them. I would have to say almost half our special teams are walk-ons."

After bulking up nearly 30 pounds from his high school days, he became a regular member of the unit last year. In a game nationally televised by ESPN, Braithwaite delivered a YouTube-quality hit, helicoptering into Buffalo kick returner Terrell Jackson.

Meanwhile, Hughes was about 30 pounds too light to play the position for which Ohio first recruited him.

"I came in here 160 — soaking wet," he said. "Really, it just makes me work that much harder, to show them I'm not no chump."

He still is not any bigger. But he is closer to seeing the field.

In his first year on campus, Hughes was moved outside to cornerback. He had never played the position, from youth football on up. At Seneca Valley, he was a three-year starter at free safety.

But when an assistant coach invited him to a defensive backs meeting one day, he jumped at the position change.

"He asked me if I liked it, and I mean, I did want to move to corner," Hughes said. "First, because I'm not that big of a person, I'm thinking I'm never going be a 220-pound safety, so getting on the field would be easier at corner. And you know, I played scout team corner last year and wound up actually doing okay."

At the moment, the three Montgomery products are all unsure of their playing time this year. As redshirt freshmen, both N'goumou and Hughes are behind experienced starters.

Braithwaite, a redshirt junior, may figure prominently in his team's plans. But football has taught him humility.

"Look, I'd be lying if I were saying that's not what I want, to play a lot on defense and being a team leader," he said. "But there's a lot of talent and senior leadership at safety right now, and they get the job done. My goal is to win a [Mid-American Conference] championship. I can take zero snaps and if there are people better than me to put us in that situation, I want them on the field."

The Solich era has seen Ohio earn national legitimacy, with two bowl appearances in the last four years. But the Bobcats are not all the way there yet — they lost both bowls, and have never won a MAC football championship.

Maybe digging deeper into the MoCo reservoir — on purpose — would help.

"Our linebackers coach, Ross Els, he'll ask you all the time about players you know," Hughes said. "We'll tell him about such and such, ‘Yeah, he's a baller.' Believe me, people know about our area. Just because it's small, they know we can really play football."

dgreenberg@gazette.net