Bryon Threats is one of the Midwest’s most dynamic athlete prospects in the 2021 class and he has the football world at his doorstep. But it is a reality that almost never was.
On a January night three years ago, Threats was struck by two bullets during an altercation with another group of teenagers.
“The way my mom looked at me when she seen I was shot, that made me look at life different,” Threats said. “If she would have lost her son that day, I don’t know how she would react. I didn’t want to put my mom through that pain again, so I knew I owed her everything after that moment. I knew I can’t live like that no more.”
Threats was shot once in the arm and once in the leg. His injuries were not life-threatening and he spent just one night in the hospital, but one of the bullets spent more than two years lodged in his arm. It was finally removed this past fall during his junior football season.
“I used to really want to be in the streets. I felt that was cool,” Threats said. “A lot of my cousins, we were our own little gang. We used to think the streets was the way to live. We were always in sports since we were young, but as we got older a lot of beef started going on and we got involved.”
After Threats spent his freshman year at Mifflin High School on the north side of Columbus, not far from where he was shot, his mother moved him to the suburb of Dublin to attend Coffman High School.
Over the last two seasons at Coffman, Threats has evolved into one of central Ohio’s top football recruits, with 17 Division I scholarship offers to his credit.
This past season, Threats was named Offensive Player of the Year for the Ohio Capital Conference Central Division. He has also found success in the classroom and proudly lists his GPA, which currently sits at 3.2, in his Twitter bio.
“I knew that was God telling me I needed to change my life around,” Threats said. “After that point, it was strictly business. I always carry that (with me), that you could have been gone a couple years ago.”
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CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
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On offense, Threats lines up at running back and slot receiver. Defensively he is listed as a linebacker on Coffman’s roster, but also plays a hybrid safety position. Threats is a standout returner on special teams, and he could legitimately fill any of those roles at the Power Five level.
“I don’t have a preference,” Threats said. “A lot of college coaches ask me what I would rather play. I tell them I just want to ball. I play special teams, offense, defense, so whatever (position) a college gives me the opportunity to help their university be great, that’s what I want to do.”
Spring is when many junior prospects recruited to the Power Five level start to zero in on their eventual college choice. Threats was following that timeline prior to the NCAA-mandated shutdown of recruiting visits, but a trip to Purdue days before the dead period was re-instated has put the Boilermakers in an enviable position in this recruitment.
“That is my top school right now,” Threats said. “My mom always talks to me about academics. Whenever I get offered by a school she always asks me, ‘How are their academics?’ I want to go to school for engineering, and Purdue’s like the No. 1 school in the country for engineering, so that’s why they’re top of the list right now.”
Behind Purdue is the home-state Cincinnati Bearcats in the No. 2 spot, with Indiana close behind as well. Threats also keeps in regular contact with West Virginia, Iowa State, Minnesota, Kentucky and Boston College.
No matter which way recruiting takes him, Threats will not forget the night that changed the trajectory of his life.
“I always think of that before every game,” Threats said. “A couple years ago, I (almost wasn’t) here. But, thanks to God, He saved me in that moment.”
