Mizzou freshman Brendon Haygood pens meaningful letter to family from fall camp
Every time Missouri posted a fall camp update, Keisha Taylor turned into an investigator. She and her mother zoomed in on every photo and video just to see if her son, Brendon Haygood, appeared in any frame.
Taylor and Haygood’s grandmother conversed over if they saw even a glimpse of the freshman running back’s hand or foot. After not seeing him in a wave of posts from the Tigers, Taylor sent her eldest child a voice note.
“I said, ‘Hey, dude, I don’t see you in anything,'” Taylor recounted. “‘Do you go to the school? Are you on the team?’ Like, what are you doing?’ And he was like, ‘I’m in the shadows.’ I said, ‘Oh, so you’re Batman now.'”
Taylor wanted pictures of her son, and following that conversation, Haygood posted a round of them on social media. While she joked Haygood couldn’t avoid the cameras all fall, Taylor just appreciated any update after sending her son off to what she compared to basic training.
“I don’t want to text him or call him and he’s in the middle of something and his phone will go off,” Taylor said. “So it’s always good to receive just good night or good morning texts from him.”
Yet it was a hand-written letter that meant the most to Taylor this past week.
As Missouri welcomed families to a practice amid fall camp, players also sent letters home. And for Taylor, who has already planned trips to Missouri for the Central Arkansas and Kansas games while trying to see her son at least once a month, she received a boost of excitement and relief.
“To actually see him putting the thought into his words and handwriting a note, which kids really don’t do these days, it made all of us tear up, even grandpa and grandma,” Taylor said.
“I’m thankful for y’all, for being there and supporting my not just dream but journey,” Haygood wrote.
Haygood readies for freshman season
Always instilling motivation into her son, Taylor has still sent words of wisdom each morning to remind Haygood she’s always there. Seeing her son read each message and taking until the afternoon to respond was nerve wracking at first, while checking his location from nine hours away in Texas. But each response helped ease her worries.
While active on social media and reading each fall camp update, Taylor still hasn’t learned everything about football. But seeing coach Eli Drinkwitz note Haygood among the freshmen that stood out during Saturday’s scrimmage, Taylor’s confidence never wavered.
“I’m the overconfident one in the family,” Taylor said. “I have no doubt that as soon as you give it to him, he’s gone with it. He’s making moves. This is where he’s supposed to be. So of course, he’s going to shine. He is the light. I always tell him that you are the light.”
With 16 years of football seasons behind her, Taylor still leans on her husband, Haygood’s stepfather, for assistance in understanding her son’s updated. She received his daily weigh-in numbers and sprinted around the house asking the significance.
“It’s just the excitement he has is 10 times more than his senior year in high school, 10 times more than his junior year,” Taylor said. “Dad literally watches his high school highlights on a daily basis.”
