EASLEY — There’s an old sports saying … to leave it on the field.
Meaning, when the final buzzer sounds and the game is over, you’ve given 110 percent. You might have lost the game, but deep down, you know that you’ve given it your all.
That could be said for Easley senior Cason Brewington, who starts on both offense and defense for the Green Wave football team.
“I just try to be there for both sides of the ball, even when I’m tired,” said the 17-year-old Brewington, The Easley Progress Athlete of the Week with a 4.3 grade point average. “I don’t want to hurt the team. The funnest part is being there with my teammates and getting the job done. I just want (on defense) to get the ball back to the offense. I want to make big hits.”
Brewington, at 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, is a converted receiver who plays tailback for Easley in their spread offense. He can catch the ball out of the backfield and can run between the tackles, and get to the outside if needed. He’s a good compliment to EHS running back Jeremiah Patton who is more of a power back who runs more north-south. Defensively, he’s more of a true safety, but he can also play cornerback.
“Cason has a lot of explosiveness,” said EHS Offensive Coordinator Matt Steck. “He got a lot stronger and a lot faster in the off season. When he’s in the game, I feel like we have a guy who can take it 80 (yards) any time. He catches the ball extremely well out of the backfield. His work ethic has been second to none.”
Continued Steck about Brewington, “During the summer, he came to me midway through and asked me if maybe he could play some running back and that was a position of need for us. He took a lot of necessary steps in the weight room and in conditioning to do that, and transformed from a receiver to a running back. He plays a lot of defense too and we use him as much as possible. He’s just a great kid. I always talk to my own kids about ones to look up to and Cason Brewington is one I’d like my own kids to be like one day.”
Last year, Brewington went out for track for the first time at EHS to get quicker. He ran the 100, 200 and was in the 4×1 relay.
“They taught me a bunch of techniques and I feel like it made me a lot faster,” Brewington said. “I felt a whole lot faster when I came out for football and conditioned.”
Brewington made a couple of standout plays on defense this season — one was against Wade Hampton (causing a fumble) and then causing another fumble (and recovering it himself) against JL Mann.
Green Wave head coach Sam Houston, meanwhile, has also been impressed with the play of Brewington.
“He’s had a good year so far,” Houston said. “It just tells you the effort he plays with, which is awesome. He’s giving Patton a break when he needs it and hopping in there. They both do some different things at running back, but I’m proud of Cason so far. He knew he had to get stronger and he did. That gave him confidence to play faster this year and correct some things, and making tackles.”
Last Friday night, Brewington had a monster game in Easley’s 30-22 comeback win over Woodmont. It probably won’t be at his favorite school of Clemson University. But wherever he ends up, you can bet he’ll be a success.