Junior Bryce Steel proves the adage that good things come in small packages. At 5-8, 154 pounds, Bryce doesn’t fit your typical big burly football player image. But there’s heart and muscle packed in that body that brings out the best in him. Bryce plays fullback and linebacker for the Wagoner football team and is also on the Bulldog wrestling team and though he’s played baseball in the spring, he says this year he’ll probably run track to help improve his quickness for football.

“My dad was really into football and wrestling when he was younger and he’s always kind of been my role model so that’s how I got into it. At first, I didn’t like wrestling much. It was just something I stuck with for my dad but then in seventh grade I started winning at wrestling meets and I saw how the things I learned there also helped me in football. I’ve been playing football since first grade and it’s really my love. Though I play on both sides, I prefer playing defense because I like to hit people,” he laughed. “Winning state in football last year was probably my football highlight. We had our ups and downs in the regular season, but things just seemed to click when we started the playoffs and, of course, that’s when you want to be playing your best.”

Bryce also got to perform on the big stage in wrestling last year as he finished fourth at the state meet in the 150-pound weight class and this year his goal is to move higher up on the podium when wrestling season wraps up.

When talking about the future you definitely get the feeling that if he could go to college on a fishing scholarship that would be ideal (“Oh, man I love to fish). So, while that’s unlikely to happen, he says maybe it would be nice if he gets the chance to play college football or wrestle, it would be somewhere where the crappies are biting.