Doing what it takes: Brownsville’s Teeter sees determination pay off with college football offer
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Brownsville’s Ayden Teeter (74) gets a grip on Laurel Highlands running back Eric Allen during a game this past season at Redstone Field. Teeter will play football next season at Notre Dame College.
Submitted photo
Brownsville senior Ayden Teeter was decided to further his football and academic career at Notre Dame College in South Euclid, Ohio. Picture are (from left) Notre Dame College offensive line coach Alan Estep, Teeter and Brownsville assistant football coach and head basketball coach Stewart Davis.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Brownsville’s Ayden Teeter puts up a shot in the lane against West Greene during Falcon Fest on Dec. 10.
Submitted photo
Brownsville senior Ayden Teeter was decided to further is football and academic career at Notre Dame College in Euclid, Ohio. Picture are (from left) Notre Dame College offensive line coach Alan Estep, Teeter and Brownsville athletic director Skooter Roebuck.
The last four years of Brownsville football has produced just two wins and three coaching changes.
The one constant for the Falcons’ struggling program has been a determined senior who has refused to quit when many other players around him did just that.
Ayden Teeter wound up as a four-year starter and an all-conference and all-county player for Brownsville.
“Ayden showed great resiliency to keep coming back and playing hard no matter how poorly the team may have been doing,” said Brownsville boys basketball head coach and football assistant coach Stewart Davis.
Teeter, a hulking 6-foot-6, 270-pound lineman, reaped the reward from his hard work and no-quit attitude with a football scholarship offer from Notre Dame College in South Euclid, Ohio. The Falcons, an NCAA Division II program, look for Teeter to play on the offensive line.
“Ayden stuck it out at Brownsville and it wasn’t easy,” said Davis of Teeter, who is also a member of the Falcons basketball team. “People don’t realize, you switch coaches and players have to learn new schemes, new terminology and get used to a different guy running the team.”
Brownsville’s football team was 0-10 when Teeter was a freshman and went 2-8 his sophomore year, both under coach Scott Fichter. Ramont Small took over for Fichter in 2020 and the Falcons went 0-7. Small gave way to Brian Gates this past season and Brownsville again went 0-7.
“It wasn’t easy on the players,” Davis said of the carousel of coaches. “But Ayden stayed through it all. He still had a passion for the game and wanted to play the game and help his teammates.
“I think that speaks volumes for what kind of kid Ayden is. I commend him. It was a tough situation. Football is his main sport and a sport that he loves and he was determined to succeed at it no matter what the circumstances were around him.”
Teeter went above and beyond the call of duty for his football team.
“This is also a kid, when we didn’t have the numbers, he went to playing running back, receiver, tight end, linebacker, even quarterback,” Davis pointed out. “He played just about every position on the field this year. He answered the call every time he was asked to step up.”
Teeter had a strong desire to play football at the next level and got plenty of help from Davis and a former NFL player as he prepped for his senior season.
“When Ayden told me what he wanted to do, I worked him out all summer. We worked on his conditioning, his explosiveness,” Davis said. “He also worked out with Williams James.”
James, a Brownsville native and Laurel Highlands graduate, starred at Michigan and spent 10 years as a cornerback in the NFL after being drafted by the New York Giants.
“Ayden was getting workouts in locally,” Davis said. “We explained to him what steps he needed to take if he wanted to get some exposure. We picked the camps that he was going to go to. This summer he went to every last one of those camps.
“I told him because of his size alone, once the schools see him then he’s going to be on their radar. Once we set down, me and him, and put some film together to show what he can do, like his good footwork, how he plays hard until to the whistle, and things like that, once we put that out there, so many coaches started to come out that you could see the excitement on his face.
“Everything that we laid out for him, he did it. We told him at the end of all this, he’s going to have some offers on the table. And that’s what happened.”
Notre Dame College is coming off an 11-2 season where it went 9-1 in the Mountain East Conference. The Falcons defeated Slippery Rock in the playoffs last year, 33-25, before falling to Shepherd University in the second round, 38-34.
Teeter is also a four-year letterman in basketball and has played under Davis for three years now. The Falcons have already qualified for the WPIAL playoffs. Teeter has shown his team-first attitude on the hardwood as well.
“Ayden is one of the leaders of the team,” Davis said. “He’s our leading rebounder. He’s not our leading scorer because every time he touches the ball he’s getting double teamed, but he was doing all the proper things, everything we asked him to do. He focused more on rebounding for us than scoring, and being a defensive force inside.
“But then he went out with COVID for about a week and a half. I made a lineup change of starting Harlan Davis and when Ayden first came back I brought him in off the bench.
“That seemed to work well for the team. It gives us a different look. Harlan can stretch the floor and when Ayden comes in he bangs. Now teams have to adjust to the style of two different players. The sixth man is always important and he’s playing even better coming off the bench.
“Ayden has always been, however best I can help the team, that’s what I want to do, no matter what sport he plays.
“I think Notre Dame College got a quality kid who will be a great asset to their program.”