Carolyn Bryant, Baugh’s paternal grandmother, is ready for the holidays.
“It’s that time of year,” she said Friday.
As Bryant showed a couple of visitors around her home in Decatur, an Atlanta suburb a few miles east of downtown, Whitney and Corey Bryant, Jadan’s parents, stood nearby decked in matching Gators T-shirts.
This isn’t the first time they have dropped by Carolyn’s home in recent days to reminisce about their memorable holiday season a year ago. An ESPN film crew and reporter Marty Smith stopped by last week to work on a story to build for Saturday’s annual Florida-Georgia game.
The game is in Atlanta for the first time as EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville undergoes a massive renovation, and Baugh’s hometown ties provide a Santa-delivered storyline.
But of course, there is more to this story. A lot more.
In arguably the most important move of Jon Sumrall‘s first season as Florida’s head coach, the majority of Gators fans know by now that only days after the death of his father, Sumrall boarded a plane to Atlanta on Christmas Eve to talk to Baugh about staying with the Gators as others showed interest in poaching the talented running back.
The trip was important enough that Sumrall brought his whole family. Sumrall’s wife, Ginny, their three kids and Sumrall’s mother, Sandra, stopped by Carolyn Bryant’s home to make their pitch. UF offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, running backs coach Chris Foster and offensive analyst Chad Lucas also attended.
When Corey Bryant first discussed the meeting with his mom — new floors were being installed in his and Whitney’s home, and it was a mess — Mamaw’s reaction was what you’d expect.
“I’m like, ‘What? It’s Christmas Eve,’ ” she said.
One by one, the visitors arrived. Faulkner was first. The others soon followed. Bryant laughed as she recalled her introduction to Sandra Sumrall, who had her dog with her. As the grandmothers sat on the front porch watching grandkids toss a football in the front yard, Sandra gave Carolyn a big hug.
“I’m just so glad to meet you,” Sandra said. “Please make sure Jadan stays at Florida.”
Corey Bryant and Sumrall had already discussed that matter at length, but the final answer remained uncertain enough to warrant an all-hands-on-deck meeting.
Sumrall was relentless in his quest for information. He had studied Baugh on film; he talked with him and liked his demeanor and approach to the game, and Sumrall knew he wanted Baugh on his first Gators team.
“The first day he got the job, he called me,” Corey said. “He expressed that retaining Jaden was a top priority.”
Finally, after a few hours of talks on Christmas Eve in Springwoods, the neighborhood Carolyn Bryant calls home and a Hail Mary from the nearby practice field at Columbia High School, where Corey Bryant played two decades ago and Jadan Baugh developed into a top recruit, everyone could sleep like a baby.
Baugh has done his part to make the unusual meeting meaningful. The junior All-American candidate has rushed for 763 yards and 13 touchdowns heading into Saturday’s clash with No. 3 Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
His parents will be there. His Mamaw, too. So will his little brother, Kenndan Bryant, a standout eighth-grader at Salem Middle School who is already showing signs of following in Jadan’s footsteps.
“Some of them are Georgia fans, some of them are Florida fans,” Baugh said. “But when it comes to this game, they’re all Florida fans.”
Greg Barnett, Baugh’s high school coach at Columbia, wouldn’t miss it.
Barnett surprised Baugh a week ago by inviting him home during the bye week to retire Baugh’s No. 3 Columbia jersey.
“I didn’t even know they were going to do that,” Baugh said. “When they did it, it was very exciting.”
Barnett gushed about Baugh late Friday afternoon in his office as his team prepared for Friday night’s 73-0 district win over Redan High.
Barnett’s program has sent other players to top college programs, but Baugh is like family.
Barnett grew up with Corey Bryant and has known Jadan since he was a boy running around the neighborhood and performing stunts on his bicycle over the steep hills in Springwoods.
That was until Corey removed the front tire of Jadan’s bike to keep him from hurting himself.
“That’s a special family for sure,” Barnett said. “He was definitely easy to coach because he was willing to stand tall and accept the task. He was not only advanced physically but mentally, too. I always joke that when I had him, he was 14 going on 40.”
Those at Columbia High speak about Baugh the way Sumrall and Faulkner do now.
Barnett didn’t let his team know Baugh would be at last week’s win over Atlanta Carver, and when he surprised them by having Baugh stroll into the pre-game locker room unannounced, the Eagles took off.
“It was really good to see him come back,” Eagles quarterback Czar Daniels said Friday. “We were really starstruck. Everybody just went crazy.”
Down the hallway from where the Eagles football team gathered Friday, Amber Hannah conducted a preseason conditioning drill for her girls basketball team. Hannah was Baugh’s middle-school teacher, and they have remained close since she moved to Columbia to coach basketball.
“He was just a freak athlete,” she said.
Barnett talks about his “dead leg.” What’s that? Barnett said that is what he did on that fourth down run at Texas to pick up a critical first down. He has seen it many times.
“He plants really hard, gets you leaning, and he’ll cut and flow out easy,” Barnett said. “You can’t teach that.”
But Baugh was more than a young athlete with a bright future at Columbia. He was a friend to everyone and a role model teachers and coaches used to inspire others.
“He is just a humble person,” Hannah said. “I still text him. I can call him, and he’ll answer my call. He has always been like that. He’ll take the time to help others.”
If you hang around Baugh’s people long enough, you quickly realize how much they are looking forward to Saturday’s homecoming.
They have had this game marked on their calendars for a long time. They live in Bulldogs territory, but they’re all about the Orange & Blue these days.
“It’s been an amazing experience,” said Whitney Bryant. “I have enjoyed watching him on his journey and seeing him do something he loves. To us, he’s just Jadan.”
To the Gators, he is their rock.
The player Sumrall had to keep. The standout worth a Christmas Eve trip to talk to. The grandson that Carolyn Bryant has always known was on his way to something big.
The first time she saw him play in middle school, he ran untouched from one side of the field to the other for a touchdown. She didn’t even have time to take her seat.
“He was gone, just like that,” she said. “I was like, ‘What did he just do?’ He was different. He’s always been special, and he’s showing it.”
When she sits down at night in her favorite living-room chair, Baugh stares back. She keeps an action photo of him amidst the Christmas flowers in a display next to the chair. It’s a constant reminder of what he’s doing and of a once-in-a-lifetime Christmas Eve.