Why Butler grad Braylon Littlejohn, former Miami (Ohio) football commit, is now playing basketball at SRU
Butler football coach Eric Christy knew the pressure Braylon Littlejohn felt. The latter’s surname holds weight in the area, with his late father, Calvin, having once starred on the gridiron for the Golden Tornado.
“He had some big shoes to fill (with) his dad,” Christy said of the younger Littlejohn. “We knew that coming in. Braylon and I had an early conversation — maybe when he was a sophomore — trying to deal with that.
“We just said, ‘Braylon, you’re not your dad. You’re you. So what do you want your story to be?’ ... He’s taken that message and moved on with it.”
Littlejohn had committed to play football for the University of Miami in Ohio in April 2023. Then, last winter, he capped off his prep hoops career by averaging 21 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. In three hardwood seasons, he poured in 1,208 total points and landed sixth on the Golden Tornado’s all-time scoring list.
Arriving on campus in Oxford and taking part in a few practices, it sunk in.
“I feel like basketball really is my main sport and I realized that after I was up at Miami for a little bit,” Littlejohn said. “I feel like football, at a corner, you can’t really change the game. I feel like it’s different in basketball.”
It wasn’t by any sort of failure, either.
“Honestly, I was doing pretty good up there,” Littlejohn said. “I just think football wasn’t for me. I let a lot of people outside of my bubble, I feel, push football on me instead of basketball and I think I made the wrong decision.”
Aided by his family and Golden Tornado boys basketball coach Matt Clement, coming to the decision was a process for Littlejohn.
“He signed early for football because he had to sign early,” Clement said. “They kind of put a deadline on him. It was a great opportunity to go to school for free. It was one of his dreams, to play college sports.
“I think the problem is when 15-16-year-old kids are making these decisions, they don’t really know what they want and they don’t know what it’s going to be like when they get to that point.”
Clement wasn’t going to nudge Littlejohn toward continuing on with basketball. The coach did get the impression his standout player was straddling a fence last winter, though.
“I just felt like — with football being the first one to offer at a Division I level — that was the thing that he had to figure out he didn’t want to do,” Clement said. “He got to the point where one day he wanted to play basketball and one day he wanted to play football.”
Clement stressed to Littlejohn his choice wouldn’t change anyone’s opinion of him.
“I said, ‘Don’t make this decision based on what other people want or what other people are going to think,’” Clement said. “Do what makes you happy and what you’re comfortable (with) and what you want to do.”
Slippery Rock University had let Littlejohn know it was interested in having him on the court. Rock head hoops coach Ian Grady respected his pledge to be a RedHawk, however.
“When he decided to play football, really, we kind of just stopped recruiting him at all,” Grady said. “Our contact pretty much stopped.”
Littlejohn reached out after getting his release from Miami. It was late in the recruiting calendar, but the Rock still had a roster spot free.
“I think it’s a credit to his character and his commitment to follow through with the football thing and give it a shot,” Grady said. “I think that, ultimately in life, you’ve got to do what your heart wants you to do and what you’re happy doing. ... He has great potential and great upside in the sport of basketball.”
Littlejohn has been in the gym training. He’s aiming to improve and do whatever he can to help the team, now focusing on one sport for the first time in a long while.
“It’s just a big relief,” Littlejohn said. “Now I’m doing something that I’ll really enjoy for the next four years or however many years I continue to do it.”
