High school football: Explosive offseason sets the stage for big 2023 season for North Hall's Breckan Kirby

Jun. 8—A little over a year ago, it was hard for North Hall's Breckan Kirby to think of himself as a high football player, much less a serious college football prospect.

These days, however, it's difficult for anyone not to think of him as either.

The work he has put in since last summer, and throughout a solid junior season last fall, has raised the rising senior tight end's interest and future on the gridiron in a big way — in every sense of the word big.

"He's going to explode here real soon," Trojans coach Sean Pender said of Kirby.

Kirby is already starting to "explode" in one way.

After an impressive showing during a unit camp for offensive and defensive linemen at the University of West Georgia on Wednesday, he went home with a scholarship offer to join the host Wolves' NCAA Division II program.

Kirby also holds an offer from Division III Sewanee (University of the South), and even more offers could be coming his way soon, with interest from Division I FCS programs like Kennesaw State, Furman and Wofford heating up.

All this current attention stems from a decision he made to play football for the first time in his life a little over a year ago.

"I'd played baseball and basketball my entire life," Kirby said. "My thought was that I was still going to play those sports, but after playing my first year of football, I really thought I had a shot at playing at the next level.

"So, I've kind of put all my eggs in one basket. I let go of both those (other) sports. I'm really focused on football. I've started working out and eating more, doing 7-on-7s. I'm all in on football."

Kirby's decision to try football stemmed from two different sources.

The first was encouragement from some of his and schoolmates, as well as Pender, during a daily leadership class that Pender conducts prior to the beginning of classes each school day.

The clincher, however, was inspiration he got closer to home — namely, his older brother Grayson, a 2021 North Hall graduate, former Trojans tight end and defensive and current University of Georgia student.

The most important thing he took away from watching Grayson play was the idea that once he committed to doing something, he wasn't going to do it halfway.

"I watched him put blood, sweat and tears into (football) and just the toughness he had in high school," Kirby said of his older brother. "It's definitely something I strive to do, and I'm still striving to this day. He definitely set the standard for what it means to be a hard worker in high school. Then, obviously, Coach Pender coming in with the spread offense (last season), it all came in and worked out at the same time."

Kirby's hard work began to yield at least some dividends during his first season of football last fall.

He saw action in eight of North Hall's 10 games during a 3-7 season, finishing with eight receptions for 73 yards and doing a solid job blocking for the Trojans offense.

Yet, he felt there was something missing from his game that he needed to find to if he was to take his game to a higher level.

And that leads to the second way Kirby is staring to "explode."

Weighing in at just 185 pounds at the end of the 2022 campaign, it didn't take long for Kirby to figure out what that something missing was.

"I think my thing was, last year being my first year playing football, I was just undersized," Kirby said. "It's hard to be undersized (under any circumstances), but the thing about the tight end position is, it's imperative to be physically dominant. It's a demanding position, so you have to be a certain size to do certain things. I think that was my biggest thing.

"(Tight ends) Coach (JR) Johnson was a Division I tight end, and he was talking about, 'You've got to get to this weight because that's what it takes if you want to play at the next level.' So, that's just what it took."

It didn't take long for Pender to start noticing Kirby's commitment to doing whatever it took to put on the necessary muscle needed to get bigger and stronger and make him more prepared to meet the challenges of varsity football.

"He started researching the proper nutrition, working hard on getting the calories he needed," Pender recalled. "He works out two to three times a day. He works out in the morning at 5 a.m. and then goes to the leadership class at 7. Then he works out again with our team. Then every so often, when we weren't practicing, he'd go and do some sort of auxiliary (workout).

"He loves the weight room. He's eating the right foods. Every day, he comes into the field house and he has a protein shake on him. So, he's doing everything he can to get himself where he needs to be."

That work has definitely paid off thus far, with Kirby adding 30 extra pounds of muscle to tip the scale at 220 pounds.

That kind of muscle on a 6-foot-3 frame, is starting to get him a lot of attention from college programs.

And while Kirby admits all that attention is a little overwhelming at times, he says he's willing to deal with it to not only help his own future in football on the next level, but to also help the Trojans improve further for his senior season.

"With the first few offers coming in and taking to the coaches, it's definitely opened my eyes," Kirby said. "But it's also exciting, and I think I need to just take it one day at a time and just go from there. Don't get too high, don't get too low and just try to get better every day."