Cade Bryant

6'2’’ 315 | Class Of 2026 | 3.81GPA | TAPPS All-District OL 1st team 2025| All-State 2025 Honorable Mention| @crufootball 2030| Mark 10:27

[Cade Bryant @CadeWBryant]

Blessed, grateful and proud to announce my commitment to @CruFootball. One of the best D3 programs in the nation. Thank you @CoachOubre and @KeithStiffle for giving me the opportunity.

Thank you to Jesus for guiding me through this decision and my family for always supporting me. Big thanks to all the coaches that have encouraged me.

As a six-man lineman I thought would never get to play at the next level, but hard work, prayer and determination will take you far.

I can’t wait to make y’all all proud on that field. 🟣🗡️🛡️🟡

From a Warrior to a Crusader. #AGTG

@coachburnam7 @coach_esprit @rtskingdomtrain @LoganTillman @TXPrivateFBGuy @sixmanfb @AshlyElamSports @CamSandersonTV @Ricoknowstiktok @TeamLSCSN

Thank you @DarielShepherd for the flag commitment graphic.

[UMHB Football🏈 @CruFootball]

#2️⃣1️⃣

#gocru | #armorup

[CouchCru 🛋 @CouchCru17]

D3 football expert @mikey_shoultz went on @D1_Rejects yesterday to talk top 10 “sleepers” for the upcoming #D3fb season 👀

He chose UMHB & highlighted the core of the team returning for 2026 & how well the Cru were playing to end 2025. Exciting season loading for the Crusaders.

[CouchCru 🛋 @CouchCru17]

Hearing some good things coming out of UMHB spring ball!

More key contributors back than we’ve had in a long time on both sides of the ball & a few impact transfers starting to really show up.

Big season loading for The Cru 🟣🟡⚔️

[UMHB Football🏈 @CruFootball]

BACK TO WORK👏

[C Jones @CashJones_77]

I’m excited in announce my commitment to UMHB!!

@CoachOubre @JEBuchta07 @APWALK1 @Huffman_Falcons @CruFootball

[TAPPS Basketball @TAPPSbasketball]

Congratulations to Legacy Christian Academy, your TAPPS 2026 2A Boys State Runner Up!!

[TAPPS Basketball @TAPPSbasketball]

2A Boys Semifinal Final Score 🏀

[DK🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸 @1Nicdar]

130 schools said no.
He led the losingest program in college football history to a national championship anyway.
Fernando Mendoza was a 2-star recruit from Miami.

He tried to walk on at his hometown school. They passed.
So did FIU.
So did FAU.
So did everyone else.

At 17, he was sitting in his bedroom, crying over a silent recruiting inbox—after driving to 18 camps with his dad and sending highlights to more than 100 programs.
Not one FBS offer.
His only option? Yale. No scholarship. No NFL path.

Everyone told him to be “realistic.”
“Know your place.”
“Be grateful.”
He didn’t listen.
Because Mendoza understood something most people miss:
The worst outcome isn’t failing.
It’s never getting the chance to try.

Two weeks before signing day in 2022, his phone rang.
Cal needed a body. One offer. Out of 134 schools.
He took it.
He arrived as the third-string quarterback.
Spent a year on the scout team.
Lost his first four starts.
Got sacked 41 times behind a broken offensive line.

Still got up. Every time.
Then Cal brought in a transfer instead of building around him.
So Mendoza left the only school that had ever said yes.
He transferred to Indiana—the losingest program in college football history.

People laughed.
“Career suicide.”
“Graveyard program.”
“Nobody wins there.”
One coach told him something different:
“I’m going to make you the best Fernando Mendoza possible.”
That was enough.
Mendoza wasn’t just playing for football.
His mother has battled multiple sclerosis for 18 years.

Before every snap, he thought of her.
“My mother is my why.”
Indiana went 16–0.
Beat six Top-10 teams.
Won their first Big Ten title since 1945.
Mendoza threw 41 touchdowns.
Won the Heisman—first in school history.
First Cuban-American to ever do it.

Then came the title game.
Miami. Near his hometown.
Fourth-and-4. Season on the line.
Quarterback draw.
The kid 134 schools rejected spun through defenders and dove into the end zone.

Game over.
Indiana—national champions.
The losingest program became the best team in America.
All because a 17-year-old refused to believe “no” was the end.

Rankings don’t decide your ceiling.
Gatekeepers don’t write your ending.
Being overlooked isn’t a verdict—it’s a starting point.

Sometimes all you need is one shot…
and the courage to bet on yourself when nobody else will.
Don’t quit.

Credit: Barclay Mullins

[Cade Bryant @CadeWBryant]

Blessed to receive an offer today from @CruFootball. I loved the campus and finally got to meet @CoachOubre and @KeithStiffle

Top- notch facilities and the business department really impressed me.

#AGTG

[Cade Bryant @CadeWBryant]

All it takes is one coach to believe in you.

[Cade Bryant @CadeWBryant]

Official visit at Centenary with @Gents_Football. Great time with the coaches. Awesome facilities and campus. I really felt welcomed.

[Jonah Greely @Greely1Jonah]

#AGTG I am beyond blessed to call ETBU my next home! #Committed✅
Shout out to coach @JebSpinney and @CoachJMoss22 for this opportunity. #Letswork #pitorpoodle

[Cade Bryant @CadeWBryant]

Great official visit with @ETBU_Football.

It was great to be on campus and hear more about the program.

Great hospitality from the coaching staff!

[Cade Bryant @CadeWBryant]

Headed behind the pine curtain for my official visit with @ETBU_Football on Monday.

Can’t wait to visit the campus and meet up with @kinchen_donald and @ETBUCoachRu again.

Praying God leads me to the right school and program.