Brandon Lawrence; The Prodigal Son Returns
He has a big decision in his life this year where he needs to choose between two major things, and neither choice is simple. Senior Brandon Lawrence (B-Law) feels as though he has to choose between his image and his future, and this might be the hardest decision he has had to make so far in his life.
The decision: To come back to school here this year and risk being looked down upon for leaving at the beginning of his senior year, or to stay in a situation that is not good for his present or his future.
To understand his decision, we need to understand him. May 29th, 2001 was the day this senior was born. He didn’t become a good player easily. He worked at it.
Basketball takes up a lot of his and his family’s life, and in his words, it is the “love of his life”.
Basketball wasn’t Lawrence’s first love. That was was actually football, and he was successful at football. After 8 years of devoting his time and hard work, he had a very bad injury and saw no hope with football anymore, but something grabbed his attention and it might have been the best thing that could’ve happened to him.
“I was sad to not to play football any more, but then I focused on basketball more seriously,” said Lawrence.
Basketball quickly captivated his heart and most of his off-time. While he was in school, he found anytime possible to get some shots up. Especially when he wasn’t in school, the workouts were long and very difficult.
Summer is when all of his time was put into training.
Once he told his father that basketball is what he wanted to pursue, his dad firmly told him, “Now that you have started this, you must finish this, ride it till the wheels fall off.”
Brandon, known here most as “B-Law” has an older brother Elbert Lawrence who graduated from here in 2013, making GPA home to his family. Lawrence admits Elbert is a role model to him.
Elbert is very good at basketball as well. So any time his brother went to work-out or go hoop in any pick-up games, B-law was right behind him playing basketball with the older guys and B-Law said that was a huge factor in how good he is today at playing basketball.
Fast forward to senior year: It’s the beginning of Lawrence’s senior season, and he has yet to receive any offers to play in college. Suspecting this lack of recruitment success is due to him going to a small school (here), he decided to transfer to Duncanville High School, which is a 6A school, with over 4,000 students.
He began his senior year there, and the “energy there was different” said Lawrence but something just wasn’t right, and it didn’t feel the same.
“I knew where God wanted me,” said Lawrence. “He has a plan.”
Trusting God’s plan instead of what the world would say on paper is a “better” decision, B-Law transferred back here in just under 3 weeks after school began.
Once Lawrence came back, his initial thought was that his peers and his coaches would treat him differently and look at him differently, but the complete opposite happens.
B-Law was welcomed with open arms, even when all the odds were stacked against him. Now he is starting on the basketball team and he is averaging 21-points, 6-assists and 5-rebounds per game.
Lawrence agrees it’s all thanks to God and trust that B-law has given to God to handle his image, his heart’s desire, his college, and his career.
