Oct. 2, 2000

EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - Senior strong safety Bryant Ibekwe loves playing his position on the Lafayette football team. Playing football is the one thing he was certain he wanted to do since he was a boy. So when it looked like a knee injury suffered during training camp could possibly end his college football career, he decided to fight it all the way back into the starting lineup.

Ask him how he went about his recovery and returned to his position as the Leopards leading returning tackler this season and he'll tell you it was hard work. Ask him how he goes about playing his position on the field and he'll keep his reply short and to the point again: "...with reckless abandonment and heart."

It was that reckless playing and no fear attitude that almost cost Ibekwe his final season as a safety for the 2000 Leopards. A month and a half ago, when he injured his knee during training camp, his hopes for a stellar senior season, along with the hopes of the Lafayette coaches, seemed as if they ended before the kickoff of the first game of the season.

But it was that reckless attitude that brought Ibekwe to where he stands today -- as the starting strong safety in the first year of the new era of Lafayette football.

"It's exciting to be involved with this program right now because it really does feel like a new time in Lafayette football has come," he said. "I feel honored to be a part of it and I am so grateful that I was able to fight through my injury to take part in this. I wouldn't want to miss this for the world."

Fighting through that injury, however, was no walk in the park for the Laurel Springs, N.J., native. Working every day with the Lafayette trainers on his body and working with his family on his frame of mind were tiring at times but again, that attitude of his came into play.

"There was never a doubt in my mind that I wasn't going to work as hard as I could to get back on the field," he said. "It was a lot of work but it's all been worth it and I am eager to get out there and play my heart out everyday."

In the two games so far this season, Ibekwe has recorded 23 tackles, two pass breakups and one interception. Not bad for a kid who almost missed the entire season.

The coaches at Lafayette are just as excited to have Ibekwe back in the lineup as the senior computer science major is to be on the gridiron. "Bryant plays his position as well as anyone I've ever coached," third year special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach Mark Reardon said. "He has a great athleticism about him and his ability to focus is unmatched. I fully expect him to prove himself as the best safety in the Patriot League this season."

Coming off the season he had in 1999, that shouldn't be hard to do. Ibekwe started every game at free safety as a junior, 11 in all, and ranked third in the Patriot League in pass breakups with 15 on the season. He recorded a career-high nine tackles in games against Dartmouth and Colgate and set a career-high mark of five pass deflections against Duquesne. He also forced and recovered a fumble in the season opener against Towson and returned two kickoffs during the season for 27 yards.

Ibekwe came to Lafayette fresh out of Paul VI High School in Laurel Springs, N.J., with a ready-to-play attitude. A four-year starter and two-year captain of the Paul VI football team, he earned All-Parochial, All-Olympic and All-South Jersey honors as a senior while playing safety, running back and kick return positions. Still, his choice to come to Lafayette was not based on playing football alone.

"I was sold on Lafayette right from the start of the recruiting process," he said. "I wanted to go to a school that had a strong football tradition and a strong emphasis on academics. Lafayette is that place."

Ibekwe came into the Leopard lineup as freshman playing in eight games as a defensive back and a kick returner. He recorded 23 tackles, returned two kickoffs for 33 yards and returned a punt of 12 yards while earning his first varsity letter at Lafayette. But the attitude was still developing.

The 1998 season marked Ibekwe's sophomore campaign and saw the young safety return three kickoffs for 55 yards and finish fourth on the team in pass break-ups and eighth in tackles. He also had a stellar performance in the Leopards win over Bucknell, recording a career-high seven tackles, making a key interception that set up the team's winning touchdown and earning the George McGaughey Award as Lafayette's Most Valuable Player in the contest. And the reckless abandonment mindset was intact.

The goals of the senior this season echo the sentiments of the coaches and the other seniors on the team thus far. "Of course we want to turn this program around and seriously contend for the Patriot League title," Ibekwe said. "But the one game that is always in the back of my mind is that Lehigh contest. I think we'd be only the second class to graduate Lafayette without beating them. I want no part in that history."

But before he lets himself look toward the Nov. 18 showdown with the Mountain Hawks at Fisher Field, Ibekwe is determined to keep playing his heart out in every game. He's anxious to prove that the new era at Lafayette has begun and that he is a proud member of its first graduating class.

Reardon admits that getting Ibekwe to where he is today was not an overnight process but that the potential for tremendous growth was there from the start. "There was a definite maturation process that he went through," said Reardon. "He is more athletic than people first gave him credit for and he's brought that to the forefront playing man-to-man and blocking with all he has in every game."

Ibekwe truly knows the meaning of hard work. He knows he has come a long way since he arrived on College Hill and he has grown from both the celebrations and the hardships he has faced over the course of his career.

"My toughest game at Lafayette was against Cornell during my freshman year," he said. "I lined up all wrong on almost every play and had terrible positioning. It was a good learning experience for me and it made me a stronger player and competitor. Now when the other team looks at me, I know I have them worried. I'm coming after them full force, nothing held back."