Editor’s note: This is a regular feature profiling senior athletes at Bryant High School.
Kyle Lovelace
NAME: Kyle Lovelace
PARENTS: Teri and Ray Lovelace
SIBLINGS: I have a sister named Britton who graduated two years ago. She’s about to be 20.
FAVORITE CLASS? Math
WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME? I like to work out and watch film, mainly football takes up my spare time.
FAVORITE FOOD: Pizza
FAVORITE MUSIC ARTIST OR GROUP: I listen to everything. I don’t have a preference.
FAVORITE MOVIE: Probably the Harry Potter movies.
FAVORITE TV SHOW: Family Guy
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A KID? I had this little stuffed monkey. We called him Monkeyshine. He was my favorite stuffed animal, I guess.
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL? I want to go to Arkansas State and major in Pre-Med Biology then get into medical school so I can be an orthopedic surgeon.
OTHER THAN YOUR PARENTS, WHO HAS HAD THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON YOUR LIFE? Friends and, other than friends, the coaches here. They’ve pretty much helped to guide us on what we need to be doing, what we need to be looking forward to. If I didn’t have football, I’d probably be getting into trouble. Football has really helped guide me to where I am right now.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT FOOTBALL? For a long time, it’s just been hitting people, taking my anger out on it but I also like the brotherhood we have among the players. I always feel like someone’s got my back.
POSITION: Linebacker
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE SEASON SO FAR? I think we’ve done really well. We kind of started off slow against Benton. It was kind of rough with us. I think after that, we learned and we got a little more competitive. We learned that we need some work and we have worked on it. I think we’ve done real well so far.
WHAT’S BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT TO THE SEASON SO FAR? Probably this last game with Catholic; we were picked to lose by a point and we ended up blowing them out. And that was one of the games that counted towards playoffs so it was a big game for us. I think it kind of shocked the whole state.
WHAT’S IT GOING TO TAKE FOR THE TEAM TO BE SUCCESSFUL THE REST OF THE SEASON? We need to eliminate these little mental mistakes. When you get tired, you start having trouble thinking. If we work on small things like knowing the coverage and getting lined up and stuff like that, I think we can eliminate those small mistakes.
INDIVIDUALLY, WHAT ABOUT YOUR GAME ARE YOU MOST CONFIDENT ABOUT? Pass coverage, for sure; me and the other linebacker switch out on the weak side. He’s more of the run guy and I’m more of the pass guy. He’s a little bigger than me but I’m a little faster than him.
WHAT DO YOU WORK HARDEST TO IMPROVE? Just knowing where to get lined up and know what coverage; we have these little modifications we make from week to week depending on who we play and I think it’s really important to know those little things.
AFTER YOU’RE THROUGH PLAYING FOOTBALL AT BHS, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL REMEMBER MOST FONDLY ABOUT IT? Probably just my team and everyone on the team; how we’re really, really close. I think I’ll miss that the most. Also, the game of football and these coaches. I know these coaches really do care about, not just them winning, but how we play and how we are in the game too.
