Brady Pretzlaff hoping to pave the way for young football players in Northern Michigan

GAYLORD ― Athletes coming out of Gaylord have been fighting a few different narratives for quite a while.

Top-level, Division I talent is not coming out of Northern Michigan some might say. Certainly, they would argue, it isn't coming out of a small town like Gaylord.

With every tackle, every new accolade and every new step in his climb, Gaylord's Brady Pretzlaff has fought against that narrative. Hard.

"I've beat the odds before, coming from a small town in Northern Michigan that doesn't produce much, if any, D1 FBS-level talent," said Pretzlaff.

Pretzlaff made his name known in his four years in the Gaylord football program, earning himself a number of accolades from all-state, down to all-conference as the team went from an annual bottom-dweller to one of the elites of the Northern Lower Peninsula.

Now, after the fairy-tale season that was his senior year, he is set to join the Minnesota Golden Gophers in early January as an early-enrolee in their 2024 recruiting class, continuing his journey down the path football takes him.

For his dad and longtime coach Jeff Pretzlaff, his son's journey is proof of what hard work can accomplish, regardless of where you grow up.

"If you're from a small town, it doesn't matter," said Jeff Pretzlaff. "I think anybody, anywhere, if you want to commit to it like (Brady) did, you can achieve what you want to do."

Brady and Jeff's relationship has helped to form the younger Pretzlaff into the young man he is today; a football-obsessed competitor with a work ethic outmatched by most others, something the Gaylord community has no problem rallying behind.

Around the game from the start

Jeff Pretzlaff grew up in Gladwin a star linebacker for the Flying G's in his high school days before playing college football at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. When he came back to Michigan, he stayed in the game, coaching at Big Rapids High School with a young Brady roaming the sidelines as the team's waterboy.

While Brady was a competitive athlete in all sports growing up, he says that spending all that time on the sidelines with his dad was part of what guided him toward his love of football.

"I played all the way up and with (my dad) coaching and being the waterboy for the varsity team since I was a little kid, I've been around it my whole life," said Brady.

For Jeff, he believes those early years were what showed his son what it took to be what he would eventually go on to become.

"He made all the bus trips with us. He was always in the weight room in the summertime," said Jeff. "So he grew up around it and he saw what it takes. He has always been a part of it."

Coming to Gaylord, finding his place

The Pretfzlaffs moved to Gaylrod in 2019 before Brady started eighth grade. After a year with the Gaylord Youth League, Brady Pretzlaff was quickly becoming a name that coaches were keeping an eye on. He quickly learned he would be joining the varsity team as a freshman, something that sparked him into really taking the game seriously.

"That was an accomplishment I was proud of at the time that kind of made me think 'okay, maybe I have to take this a little more seriously,'" said Brady.

Like many talented athletes, Brady starred in a variety of roles as the initial Gaylord coaching staff tried to find where he fit best. That spot, as the world would come to find out, was in the same spot his dad starred in all those years ago, leading the defense at linebacker.

And, with his dad on the sidelines as the team's defensive coordinator throughout Brady's career, the younger Pretzlaff slowly started picking up on the things Jeff was hoping to pass down to him. He helped Brady see the intricacies of the game, only helping the Pretzlaff's relationship grow as Brady grew as a player, and his new level of respect for the game brought a new dynamic to their father-son, coach-player bond.

"Eighth grade, freshman and sophomore year, I would tell him something and he would be more like a sponge," said Jeff. "Now, it's kind of fun to see him because I will say something I see on the field and he's like 'I don't think that's the right way. I'm not sure if that's the right way to do it.'"

Turning heads, receiving offers, changing narratives

After his solid freshman season, it started to become clear Brady had something special on the football field, so the beginning of the college recruiting process came that offseason. Like many hopeful college athletes in Northern Michigan, however, it was a process that started with Brady and the family reaching out to coaches, not coaches reaching out to them.

"I knew that coming out of Northern Michigan, there's not a ton of kids that make it to that level, so I tried emailing coaches, DMing coaches, stuff like that," said Brady.

Slowly, attending camps, turning heads and talking to coaches started to work and that process began to reverse. Things really broke through in the spring before his junior season when he received his first offer from Central Michigan, cementing his name as a true DI, FBS-level prospect.

Pretzlaff started to pick up general interest from larger schools like Wisconsin and Purdue, eventually picking up his first Big Ten offer from Illinois midway through his junior season. But his process took a drastic turn in January of 2023, starting with a visit to Minnesota's junior day on Jan. 16. Three days later, Pretzlaff announced via X (formerly Twitter) at 3:12 pm EST he had received an offer from the Golden Gophers.

Just 21 minutes later, his decision was made.

Gaylord football went on quite a rise between Brady's freshman and senior seasons, largely thanks to the culture change that head coach DJ Szymoniak that overhauled what the program stood behind. So, when Brady went to visit Minnesota and he saw the culture that it's coaching staff had built, it resonated with him.

"I got the chance to see the culture that coach (PJ) Fleck has put in. Coming from a program that hasn't been the best in the past and seen some not-so-great culture, that was really important to me," said Brady.

Setting the example

The stretch of dominance from Gaylord football turned the Blue Devils into Northern Michigan stars this season, complete with postgame autographs and media hype from around the state. Brady is likely to pull in All-State honors for the second straight season after helping Gaylord to an 11-1 finish and leading the team with 126 tackles and eight sacks.

For Brady, he is most proud of what his journey means to young kids in small towns around Northern Michigan, one he hopes will culminate with his dream of playing in the National Football League.

"I'm just going to keep doing the things that got me to where I am today, keep up those habits that I built upon and take it one day at a time," said Pretzlaff. "If I do those things, I truly believe with the staff that's in place at Minnesota that (the NFL) is possible for me."

Jeff, meanwhile, will watch someone else coach Brady for the first time next year. For him, Brady's journey is a culmination of all the work he put in from a young age, something that he hopes will inspire kids around the state.

"You talk about the American dream, that kid is living it," said Jeff. "You put the work in and you get up at 6 a.m. on a school day, he would come to the field and do workouts by himself. That's the thing, if you want to achieve something, anybody in Gaylord or any small town USA, you can do what you want to do. I mean, he's living proof of it is that if you work for it, you can achieve it."

Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Gaylord's Brady Pretzlaff paves the way for Northern Michigan Football players