He may only be 13, but quarterback prodigy Daron Bryden has made quite the name for himself. Oh, and he beat Matt Hasselbeck in a passing competition.
(Photo Courtesy of Craig Bryden)
Some people will argue that 13 is too young to be recruited by college football programs or examined, critiqued and rated, but those people probably haven’t seen Daron Bryden in action…yet.
The 13-year-old quarterback prodigy broke onto the scene a few years ago for his incredible arm and impeccable accuracy. As Daron’s talent began to gain national attention, he was invited to participate in the Kids Talent Show in Los Angeles hosted by LL Cool J.
The competition put the children on the leading edge of their talent fields against professionals—for Daron, his opponent was Tennessee Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.
The event was relatively simple, just throwing footballs through rings to rack up the most points in 60 seconds. So Hasselbeck won, right? Put the kid in his place? Crushed his dreams?
Well not exactly. When the clock hit zero, Daron had squeezed out two more points than Hasselbeck. Quite the defining victory for the young man.
Daron certainly has his dad, Craig Bryden, to thank for his early hype. The elder Bryden has done what any good, proud father would do in his position—promote his son’s talent to the world. He has also done all he can to make sure his son is set up to succeed, hiring not one but two quarterback coaches in two different states to ensure that Daron’s talent is combed and that he sees his full potential.
He’s definitely had a lot of early success on the field, and thanks to his father he is getting a lot of recognition for it nationwide. At 12, Daron became the first of two sixth graders to be listed on Rivals.com. There are only a handful of 13-year-olds with Daron’s talent level, but there is only one that people are calling the “next Peyton Manning.”
Daron has been traveling the country this summer with his dad, participating in camps and training with coaches all over the map. He has already received invites to participate in football camps from college football programs such as Temple; however, as he approaches graduation in the Class of 2021, he will be no doubt be receiving letters from just about every program in the country.
If you haven’t heard of him before, you should probably try to remember the name Daron Bryden.
