Lake Gibson duo Cormaini McLain and Brayshon Williams carry tradition
An All-American lineage is forming at Lake Gibson through the success of major prospects Sam McCall, Cormani McClain and now Brayshon Williams.
McCall is just weeks into his college career at Florida State. McCall was the No. 56 overall prospect in the On3 Consensus rankings for the class of 2022.
McClain is the No. 4 overall prospect in the On3 Consensus rankings for the class of 2023. He is No. 3 overall in the On300 rankings and considered a Five-Star Plus+ prospect.
At the beginning of January McClain and Williams, both made the short drive over to Disney’s Wide World of Sports to support McCall during his week as an Under Armour All-American.
Both players have since committed to taking part in their respective games. Lake Gibson head coach Keith Barefield spent time as a college coach before taking over the job.
He watched the schedule throughout the week, the level of competition and came to the conclusion that it was a week-long peek into the life of a college football player.
Both McClain and Williams jumped at an opportunity to get a head start. Barefield feels the extra is what has helped humble McCall and McClain while showing an example for Williams.
“It’s the guys that have that focus and that competitiveness to them that start to rise above the rest,” Barefield said. “You go back to Cormani and Sam last year, they’re both five-star athletes and heading to college to play defensive back. They play both ways here. How do you make a five-star better in high school? You line them up across from another five-star.”
Iron sharpens iron
Neither McClain nor Williams will be surprised by the talent level they see across from them. They guard one another every day. There aren’t any breaks given either.
“It’s very intense in practice,” Williams said. “Everybody wants to beat somebody. It’s made me better. It’s made me want to be better than them.”
Williams is getting an education in how the recruiting game works as well. Both McCall and McClain blew up in their sophomore years with offers as has Williams.
Williams is taking notes.
“With Cormani, it’s about continuing to work,” Williams said. “He works all the time outside of school. Nothing is given or guaranteed to him.”
Barefield admits one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to dealing with the recruiting process. All three have proven to handle the early parts of their recruitments differently, though the on-the-field effort has remained the same.
“We saw Cormani watch Sam and figure out how he wants to do it and here are the things to look out for,” Barefield said. “In that same breath, Brayshon got two people to look up to early on in the process. Cormani sat him down and gave him the ins and outs of it, to not listen to this or that and pointed to the things he needed to pay attention to and don’t let it get to his head. Brayshon is reaping the benefits of having those two on campus last year. To me, that’s kind of the goal of all that. You look at those that have gone before you and you have the template of the best way to approach it.”
Brayshon Williams learning through trials and tribulations
Barefield is intrigued to see how Williams develops. Unlike McClain and McCall before him, Williams is chasing two players every day.
“He’s been taking his lumps and being handed his humble pie at practice for a while,” Barefield said. “He’s becoming a junior this year and starting to own the team. That fact that he had to go through that, he’s had to realize that this wasn’t something that was handed to him. It was earned. When you earn something, it’s way more valuable and you take much better care of it. It’s not something Brayshon or Cormani take lightly.”