Son of former Ball State football player will suit up for EMU against dad's Cardinals
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On Saturday, Nov. 15, Ball State football will celebrate senior day ahead of the final home game of the 2025 season.
On the other sideline, there will be no senior day ceremony or fanfare for the visiting Eastern Michigan football team. But for one Eagles player, stepping onto the field at Scheumann Stadium will represent a full-circle moment that has taken a lifetime to come back around.
Bryce Llewellyn will start at free safety for Eastern Michigan, but he has Ball State in his blood. His father, Marlon Llewellyn, played linebacker at Ball State from 1996-2000 and is currently the senior academic advisor and retention specialist in Ball State’s Miller College of Business. Bryce grew up attending Ball State football camps and games, and Saturday’s game will be his first chance to play on that field as a Division I college football player — just like his dad.
“It’ll be a very special and euphoric moment when I do get to step on that field,” Bryce said in a phone interview with The Star Press. “Just because of the foundation that my dad has already laid out as far as playing college football at a high level and being able to showcase my talent somewhere where he kind of started it off for our family. It will be a very special moment for me, and him as well.”
Bryce played high school football at Cathedral in Indianapolis where he was teammates with the sons of then-Butler head coach Mike Uremovich and defensive coordinator Jeff Knowles. Marlon remembers the first time he met the future Ball State coaches at a Cathedral game, and they caught him off guard by knowing who he was already.
“I was like, ‘Excuse me?'” Marlon said. “They told me, ‘We know who your son is. Bryce Llewellyn is an amazing athlete.’ And they said to me, I’ll never forget this, ‘We don’t know how Ball State let Bryce leave the state.'”
After an accomplished high school career at Cathedral, Bryce began his college football career at the FCS level with Charleston Southern and was named an FCS Freshman All-American by Phil Steele Magazine. He transferred to EMU after two seasons in Charleston and is now in his second year with the Eagles. He has enjoyed a breakout senior season in Ypsilanti, racking up 87 total tackles, four pass breakups and two interceptions.
“What makes me so proud of Bryce is how he handled that transition with the poise, with the grace, and also the grit,” Marlon said. “This young man had to really sit down and tap into his faith, really tap into the things that myself and his mom have poured into him and understand that it’s bigger than you.”
Faith is a core tenant of the Llewellyn family. When Bryce was a junior in high school, Marlon gave him a Bible verse to live by — Hebrews 10:35: “Do not throw away your confidence because it will be richly rewarded to you.” Every time Bryce feels discouraged or experiences hardship in his football career or his life, he always comes back to that verse.
“That was me and his verse when I was going through high school, just dealing with all the doubt and the naysayers,” Bryce said. “Understanding who I am and whose I am in Christ, as well, never losing sight of my confidence and all the things that I’ve worked for and grinded for to get to where I am, so now that’s just something that me and him are going to live by, in regards to football and in regards to life in general.”
The Llewellyn family has had this game circled on the calendar ever since the schedules were announced by the Mid-American Conference. Marlon was the first to find out that his Cardinals would be hosting his son’s Eagles. Marlon serves as a mentor in Ball State football’s Cardinal Mentor program and first saw the schedule during a Zoom call over the summer.
He sent the schedule to Bryce, and the father-son trash talk began.
“I screenshotted Bryce’s schedule and said, ‘Look, you got to come to my house baby!'” Marlon said with a laugh.
Marlon will be in the stands on Saturday wearing colors from both teams, cheering on his son while still representing his Ball State Cardinals. No matter the outcome of the game, it will be a moment that both father and son will never forget.
“As this week has come about, I’ve just been thinking about all of the things that have kind of gone into it,” Bryce said. “All the work and all the time that we’ve spent talking about things like this, it’ll be cool to share this moment with him and be able to live in the moment but also remember why we’re there at the end of the day is to play a football game.”
Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@muncie.gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Eastern Michigan’s Bryce Llewellyn has Ball State football in blood
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