Legacy Charter tackles a new style of football

When Legacy Charter’s football program opened a head coaching position earlier this year, Brandon Bristow saw it as his opportunity to step back into coaching. 

For the North Carolina native, returning to coaching wasn’t a random decision — it was a natural calling for someone who has spent much of his life around the sport. He stopped coaching football about four years ago and every year since he’s had the itch to go back to it. 

Bristow jumped right into the action in his new role at Legacy. He along with his players have learned together this year as the team has navigated a new territory: eight-man football. 

RETURN TO THE SIDELINES

Bristow came to Legacy with more than a decade of experience coaching football and basketball, serving in both assistant and head coaching roles. His role at Legacy is his first time as a head football coach. 

Over the years he’s worked with incredible coaches and he’s taken a little bit from each place he’s been. Bristow said it’s those experiences that’ve helped him grow as a coach and as a person. 

The 11-year resident of Florida is using his past experiences as a tool to find his footing at Legacy. He understands the fundamentals that go into being a coach. What keeps Bristow returning to the field isn’t the competition — it’s the people and the relationships built with the kids.  

“There’s really nothing better than that,” he said. “The only difference between being an assistant coach and a head coach is the workload. It’s a ton more work.”

That extra work comes in many forms. Head coaches aren’t just a figure who leads the team during games; they’re recruiters, motivators and mentors all rolled into one. Taking on all of the roles that come with a head coaching position has been easy for Bristow, as he knew what to expect because of his past experience as a basketball head coach.

As a head coach, Bristow has to fundraise, organize film sessions, plan schedules and prepare everything for the upcoming season. With one game left this year, he’s already thinking ahead to the offseason training that’ll start in a few weeks. 

When he first took over at Legacy, the situation was not ideal. He was hired when the season just began and his first official day coincided with the team’s first week of practice. 

“I came in late,” Bristow said. “I didn’t really get a chance to recruit any kids on campus. We started the season with just nine players.”

Nine players wasn’t enough to play traditional football. Over time, the number has grown to 19, but playing a contact sport naturally brings a fair share of injuries and the team has struggled to maintain its health and strength in numbers. 

Only having nine players meant an adjustment was needed in order to play on Friday nights. 

Photo by Megan Bruinsma

RELEARNING THE GAME

Legacy Charter’s football program isn’t like most other schools in Florida. In order to play, the team decided to play eight-man football, a modified version of the traditional 11-man game. This type of football is designed for smaller schools with limited rosters. It creates faster-paced games and forces coaches to rethink their playbooks and throw away what they’ve known about football.

“I had never even heard of eight-man football before coming here,” Bristow said.

Instantly Bristow had to learn everything. He relearned offensive and defensive schemes, the rules for onside kicks, two-point conversions and field goals. He described this season as “interesting.”

The format changes everything from spacing to player responsibilities. The team even plays on a narrower field, it’s 40 yards wide compared to the 53 yards for 11-man. Bristow said the biggest adjustment is playing with only three offensive lineman. 

Instead of having an off-tackle play, it turns into an off-guard play. It’s the little things like that that have changed how Bristow has approached the game. 

He said on defense, some teams don’t have a true defensive end or safety. This year has been a learning curve for everyone. 

Learning the new rules and playing style with the roster limitations hasn’t been an easy feat this year, but the team has embraced the challenge with enthusiasm. 

“I think they’re having fun with it,” Bristow said. “They’re learning a lot and everyone gets plenty of playing time. We don’t have a deep roster, so everyone contributes. That part’s been really rewarding to see.”

The smaller roster laid the groundwork to building close-knit relationships with his players. In a typical football program, there’s 50 or 60 kids on the roster and it’s hard to connect with all of them. At Legacy, Bristow gets to talk to his players every day at school. 

“They’re great kids,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”

This season has forced the Legacy coaching staff to be flexible. With so few players available, injuries often mean they have to reshuffle the lineups and make the changes with little notice. 

“Bigger teams have depth charts that go three or four players deep,” he explained. “We have a depth chart that says, ‘You’re playing this position — oh wait, now you’re playing defensive tackle because our guy just got injured.’ It’s been tough, but the kids have handled it really well.”

Among Legacy’s small group of players, one in particular has stood out for his dedication and attitude throughout games and practices: senior Wyatt Canaan. The center has learned the position from scratch this year. 

“He’s there every single day and works his butt off,” Bristow said. “He’s been our saving grace, honestly. Without him, we’d barely be able to snap the ball.”

Canaan got to work over the summer, before Bristow even arrived at Legacy, and has doubled down on his training efforts from Week 1. He captures Legacy’s approach to this season and team motto — Do your job. 

The motto applies to everything, Bristow said. It’s applicable to football, school and life. As students ,their job is to go to class, succeed academically and complete every responsibility. As players, their job is to handle their assignment. He’s teaching his players not to worry about what others are doing. 

“If your job is to cover the A gap, then cover the A gap. It’s simple, but it matters,” he said. 

That focus on accountability and consistency has slowly started to take hold. Bristow said the players are starting to take hold of the motto. It’s been difficult because of the low numbers but the players are learning and growing. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Legacy has one game left this season and Bristow’s first year nearly is behind him. He’s already begun to look toward the future for the program. He’s confident the team will continue to grow and next year’s roster will be bigger and more motivated.

Bristow said he’s talking to students every day, freshman, sophomores, juniors and he’s even reaching the middle schoolers. He’s trying to recruit them. Now, he has some students telling him they think they’ll play next year and he described it as the best feeling. 

His efforts to recruit players for next year align with his ultimate goal of bringing Legacy back to traditional 11-man football. 

“The hope is to go back to 11,” he said. “That’s what we’re working toward. But for now, we’re building something special here. It’s been tough, but it’s been worth it.”