Bayside Academy junior running back Brennen Yamane spent his sophomore season at the nationally recognized IMG Academy where he picked up plenty of applicable lessons both on and off the field.

The preparatory boarding school in Bradenton, Florida boasts one of the top high school football teams in the country and has a streak of five years in a row where an alumnus was taken in the first round of the NFL Draft. IMG Academy also developed its own recruiting service, NCSA College Recruiting, that has helped over 250,000 student-athletes ascend to the next level.

During his time on the IMG Ascender football team, Yamane got an up-close and personal look at what it takes to continue his athletic career as they went on an undefeated run to claim a national championship in the NationalHSFB.com poll.

"It's the best of the best there. The coaches, my teammates, as soon as I arrived there and as soon as I left, they were supporting me," Yamane said. "It's a great environment, it's iron sharpens iron. They live by that, I live by that, and I feel like my year being there, I was able to become a player that I never would have been able to without them."

Already applying lessons learned

He was already putting those lessons into practice in his season debut with his hometown Bayside Academy Admirals, where he had been going since Pre-K. Yamane suffered an avulsion fracture in his ankle before the Week 1 contest against St. Michael but returned to action last Friday in a 27-7, Week 8 win over Cottage Hill Christian.

"How to run the ball, whether it's positioning or game timing," Yamane said of what he learned. "Whenever Coach called the O-Zone toss (Friday night), I knew that trying to score for myself wasn't going to be the best opportunity, (but) running out of bounds to stop the clock would have been the best option. Which is what I did and that ultimately allowed us to score, but a flag came."

Bayside Academy head football coach Barrett Trotter said Yamane "worked his tail off," to get back on the field and he was excited to have him return to the backfield as the 6-1 Admirals steam toward the postseason.

"Great to have him back, I know he's still getting back in the swing of things but he's going to be a force to be reckoned with," Trotter said of his running back. "He's a big-body guy who moves really well and we're really glad to finally have him back and ready to go."

Knowledge is power

Not only on the field, but Yamane also learned the old-fashioned way and put in the work in the classroom as well.

"All of my teachers held me to high expectations, and my teammates as well. In class, out of class, we all made sure we stayed on our grades," Yamane said. "Academics is just as important as football, because without academics, you can't get to the next level."

While he admitted it took some time to adjust, Yamane felt like he had found his place and came out feeling like he had increased his prospect value.

"Those guys respect the game, and they live the game. It's definitely a college-like atmosphere there, and it took me a while to adjust," Yamane said. "But I feel like being forced to overcome certain abilities that I didn't have in the beginning was a learning process for me. And a very humbling experience."

Part of that learning process included discovering that no matter how hard you work, somebody else could be working harder.

"Hard work. I feel like hard works always got me there in the first place but now it's definitely a must-have if you want to make it to the next level," Yamane said. "And being able to do things that other people are not willing to do."

An extra-sweet homecoming

Now back at Bayside Academy, it was a special season debut on Friday for Yamane who celebrated a convincing win on homecoming night.

"Homecoming. That's a big thing, it's something that you only get four times in a high school career," Yamane said. "So me and the boys, we're all going to have fun and we're going to dance and enjoy our time."

He said his team goal this season was to continue winning and his personal goal was to get his sea legs back.

“Stay healthy, win a state championship, and to hopefully get back into my normal self running the ball and be able to correlate that to get some points on the board for my team,” Yamane said.

No matter what, he’ll do it for his hometown Admirals.

“Bayside, the support here, I can't ask for better,” he said. “I grew up here; my teachers, my parents, my grandparents, my friends, my friends' parents who are like my family, my second parents. They’re the best people in the world.”