Braylon Grayson plays every snap like he’s on a seek-and-destroy mission. His relentlessness has made him one of the best linebackers in Tennessee.

One of the best defensive Pioneers to ever step on the field played his final game last week. As it’s been ever since Grayson started playing varsity football in 2020, he was all over the field making plays.

Grayson was credited with a career-high 26 stops in his final game, just another night where he seemingly was in on every defensive play for the Pioneers. It gave him 168 stops for the season, perhaps the best tackling year for any Pioneer in the history of the program. 

In just four region games, Grayson had an astonishing 79 stops, nearly doubling the amount he had against the four opponents last year when he was named the Region 3-6A linebacker of the year. He’ll likely get even more hardware when awards are announced in the coming weeks, especially with him being the topic of postgame talks nearly every game.

“We’ve known Braylon was a warrior and was going to leave it all on the field for us since the moment we showed up,” said coach Matt Turner, who took over during Grayson’s freshman season when he was dominating JV games. “Once he started playing varsity, we’ve been getting the same question: ‘Who is No. 24?’ He has everybody’s attention when he’s on the field.

“He’s always around the ball. He plays with zero fear and wants to stop everybody in their tracks.”

Grayson started honing his tackling skills at a young age, stepping right into the middle linebacker role he’d hold for a decade as a pee wee player. Coaches at every level marveled at his ability to affect games on defense at an early age, including opponents at WCMS who would start running plays in the opposite direction by the second half when Grayson was involved.

While he’s been dominating for years, Grayson really felt like the position clicked for him during a top 10 battle at Nunley Stadium. 

“It turned on my sophomore year against Riverdale. It was one of my best games,” recalled Grayson, who had 12 tackles against the Warriors during the program-changing season in 2020. “I just go after the ball. It’s whatever I need to do to help my team win and I really just like to hit people honestly.”

His stats pop off the page like he’s been playing a video game, but they’re more than legit. Many nights, there can be full drives for the Pioneers defensively where Grayson makes or is involved in every tackle. PA announcers across the Midstate, not just those at Nunley Stadium, know his name by heart by the middle of the first quarter. 

“He doesn’t take plays off and he practices like he plays. During our first year when he was a freshman and not even on varsity yet, he made a play on a kickoff drill where he almost decleated one of our returners,” said Turner. “He never slows down. He’s practiced that same way for four years and gotten better and better. He’s the full package at linebacker – he hits, he can go sideline-to-sideline and he’s shown he can cover too.”

As well as racking up massive tackle numbers, Grayson also finished this season with six forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and an interception. He did it all while pulling double duty – he’s likely the first Pioneer in program history to rack up 100-plus tackles in three straight years while also finishing top 10 all time in rushing yards ( ) and receiving touchdowns (seven).

His drive is insatiable too. Even after being named all-region twice and the 2021 LB of the year, Grayson wouldn’t quit working. “I wanted more tackles than I had last year, so I got in the gym and got stronger. I wanted to get better at my craft,” said Grayson about his goals going into this season.

True to form, Grayson never slowed down even as the grind of close losses took their toll on the Pioneers this year. After the playoff dreams were extinguished and the Pioneers were staring down their ninth loss at Lebanon in the waning seconds, Grayson wouldn’t be denied another stop.

With just 40 seconds to play, Grayson knifed into the backfield on third-and-short, dropping a Lebanon runner for a huge loss on his final defensive play for Warren County.

“It felt like a dream really making my last tackle on Friday nights, but I also felt bad for my teammates because we’re not going to play together anymore,” said Grayson about the last stop.

While his days of adding to Pioneer lore are done, Grayson is hopeful he’s not made his last tackle yet. College coaches have taken an interest in him this year – “They love the way I play and how I run all around the field,” noted Grayson about schools calling – and he holds an offer from the Sewanee Tigers already. He’s not made anything official yet, but Grayson readily admits, “I hope I get to make more tackles at the next level.”

There’s no question about it: If Grayson is on the field, he’s going to find the ball. The tackling machine isn’t even close to slowing down yet.