Reload Podcast: Episode 1 (Bryan Domino)

Despite UConn Foot­bal­l’s 1–5 record ahead of their matchup against USF, there have been plen­ty of sto­ry­lines to talk about with the pro­gram, and one of those men to rise through that adver­si­ty is Bryan Domi­no. After run­ning backs Devon­tae Hous­ton and Bri­an Brew­ton chose to quit the pro­gram, Domi­no has stepped up to become one of the team’s pri­ma­ry kick return­ers and even though he’s been faced with adver­si­ty many times through­out his foot­ball jour­ney, includ­ing this sea­son, he’s stuck with it. On Episode One of the Reload Pod­cast, Evan Rodriguez will speak to Domi­no about his jour­ney, espe­cial­ly how his faith has played a mon­u­men­tal part in get­ting him to this position.

Info on Bryan Domi­no
1. https://bvmsports.com/2023/09/19/uconn-football-week-4-depth-chart-brian-domino-replaces-brian-brewton-at-running-back/

2. https://uconnhuskies.com/sports/football/roster/bryan-domino/13393

3. https://www.espn.com/college-football/player/_/id/5150452/bryan-domino

Social Media Posts:

Tran­script:

Evan: Wel­come to the Reload pod­cast. You’re one one-stop shop for an in-depth look at the Con­necti­cut foot­ball pro­gram. We fea­ture one ris­ing star with the team that brings the pas­sion and deter­mi­na­tion that it takes to sur­vive in col­lege foot­ball. With­out fur­ther ado, let’s get to our guests of the week ahead of UCon­n’s matchup against USF, Bryan Domino.

Evan: All right, back on the Reload pod­cast, we’ve got one of Con­necti­cut’s most intrigu­ing play­ers right now for the Con­necti­cut foot­ball team, Bryan Domi­no. Bryan, hap­py to have you on. Bryan: Yessir, I appre­ci­ate your appre­ci­a­tion for hav­ing me.

Evan: All right. So I want to get into to your first win of the sea­son right at Rice. You’re actu­al­ly from Texas. Pret­ty awe­some way to actu­al­ly get your first win. How was that actu­al­ly going in there and get­ting the win? I assume fam­i­ly was there.

Bryan: You know, it was it was great. You know, like get­ting back in the Hous­ton weath­er and stuff like that and get­ting a qual­i­ty team win. You know, Coach Mora, said we were des­per­ate for a win, you know what I’m say­ing, so we got that done. So, it felt great. Evan: Yeah. Awe­some. I want­ed to go into some of the ini­tial expec­ta­tions from you going into the sea­son. I know you are a walk-on, but right now you’re real­ly carv­ing a role out here. What were some of your ini­tial expec­ta­tions going into the sea­son and how did you real­ly change sort of your for­tunes here?

Bryan: You know, like, it was it was like the same expec­ta­tion as a schol­ar­ship kid, you know. So that’s what Coach Mora told me. He said, you know, just get­ting here, work­ing, you know, say­ing you have a guar­an­teed spot, but, you know, you still got to work and stuff, you know? But, you know, when I got here, it was, you know, I just thought I was like every­body else, you know, say­ing, walk on schol­ar­ship. You know, I had offers, but, you know, I just com­mit­ted late and stuff. So that’s why I was a walk-on. But, you know, expect expec­ta­tions. Like my expec­ta­tions are real­ly high. And I’m pret­ty sure the coach­ing staff had the same expec­ta­tions. But, you know, got to go above that. So I feel like you just got to, you know.

Evan: Exceed your expec­ta­tions a lit­tle bit? Yeah. Obvi­ous­ly, I like to know a lit­tle bit about peo­ple’s foot­ball jour­neys in gen­er­al. How did you real­ly get into foot­ball as a kid? How did that sort of come about?

Bryan: You know, it all start­ed, you know, say­ing like back­yard, my dad, you know, just play­ing around and stuff, put the ball in my hand, made him miss. He was shocked. And after that, I just start­ed play­ing foot­ball ever since. I’ve played since I was four.

Evan: So what was the turn­ing point where you real­ly knew like that this was the this was the thing for you? This was sort of your like call­ing in a way. Bryan: I’m going to say like flag foot­ball, you know what I’m say­ing? I made some­one miss, scored and I just heard every­body cheer­ing and I just love that feel­ing, you know? And just after that, I just kept going in high school and mid­dle school, all that. So, yeah.

Evan: One of the things I real­ly like on your Insta­gram, you’ve got the cross there. I always like to know how has real­ly God helped put you in this posi­tion? How has he real­ly helped get you to a point where you’re con­tin­u­ing to go get bet­ter both on and off the field? Bryan: You know, of course, God, a big role in my life, you know, even now, you know what I’m say­ing. Like even now being a walk-on, you know, not every­one gets this oppor­tu­ni­ty as a walk-on. I feel like he played a huge role in my life on and off the field. You know, I’m blessed to see anoth­er day every day. And even on the field, you know, see­ing the coach­ing staff trust­ing me, I’m pret­ty sure God trust­ing in me and I trust him as well. And I just feel like he does like every­thing for me on and off the field, I’m pret­ty sure for every­body else too, you know what I’m say­ing? So for us to get that win, we need­ed him.

Evan: Is there a par­tic­u­lar moment for you that real­ly sticks out where He was sort of more evi­dent to where he real­ly pushed you maybe more than oth­ers to real­ly exceed a moment that maybe you would­n’t have been able to get over with­out him?

Bryan: Yeah, get­ting here, actu­al­ly. You know, I was real­ly sup­posed to com­mit to Wyoming in the mid­sea­son of my senior year, but they took that offer because I did­n’t com­mit right in time. So I was hit­ting up every coach. Still, no offers until I real­ly got a few late offers my senior year and that’s when I want­ed to com­mit to Wyoming. But they took that. And then fast for­ward to senior year, still no offers. <Hous­ton> gives me one. But they also took that because they had a lot of receivers on their ros­ter and then I was about to get offered by TCU, but they took a por­tal dude. So then I saw UConn had lost a lot of receivers and stuff, so yeah, I hit them up. Boom, coach Mora hit me back the next day. I came up on a vis­it about a week lat­er. And then I just fell in love with it ever since then. Yeah. I feel like God brought me here for a rea­son and stuff, so I’m excit­ed for that

Evan: Nah, that’s love. What par­tic­u­lar­ly stuck out to you about when you actu­al­ly went on the vis­it here? What par­tic­u­lar­ly stuck out? Was it just was it the cam­pus? Was it the coaches?

Bryan: Just I mean, real­ly like the spot, you know? So it’s like some­where where you could like real­ly focus and stuff like that and like the coach­ing staff, it just felt like a sec­ond home, you know? So I always felt like that’s what I need­ed in a col­lege cam­pus and a foot­ball side of like col­lege, you know, just like the staff and the love from everybody.

Evan: I think that obvi­ous­ly, you know, some­times things hap­pen and oppor­tu­ni­ties come. One of the things was obvi­ous­ly for you as a kick return­er, obvi­ous­ly with Devon­tae <Hous­ton> depart­ing the pro­gram with <Bri­an> Brew­ton depart­ing the pro­gram, you get into this oppor­tu­ni­ty where you can real­ly con­tribute. What were some of the talks with the coach­es like about being able to step into that role and real­ly con­tribute in in such a piv­otal role so early?

Bryan: Yeah, talks were real­ly just the same, you know, say­ing they’re just telling me be focused, be, be pre­pared, you know. Say­ing the same thing as Brew­ton And Devon­tae told me, you know, say­ing they saw some­thing in me and they always told me my time would come and I feel like it just hap­pened like that, you know.

Evan: I’m kind of inter­est­ed as far as some of the chal­lenges so far. Your fresh­man year, what have been some of those chal­lenges for you?

Bryan: Chal­lenges, well, I real­ly got my wel­come to col­lege foot­ball moment. I don’t know if you know, the Duke game.

Evan: Yeah, yeah, yeah Bryan: I had the lit­tle pitch and then I fum­bled it, like I bob­bled it and then boom, 15 yards back. Dude got the ball, you know. So I was real­ly frus­trat­ed. I was real­ly mad at myself on that. And I feel like every­thing hap­pens for a rea­son, you know? So like, I feel like that was my wel­come col­lege foot­ball moment as a fresh­man, you know? And I just feel like I’m gonna have many more mis­takes and stuff, but I would say that was prob­a­bly my biggest chal­lenge so far.

Evan: I’m inter­est­ed as a young fresh­man, how do you sort of stay com­posed in those roles? I know a lot of peo­ple will sort of fum­ble in those moments, espe­cial­ly against a Pow­er Five team, a real­ly tal­ent­ed team with Duke. But how do you real­ly sort of stay com­posed and keep on going with that?

Bryan: You just got to remem­ber who you are, you know, say­ing like you’re going to make mis­takes and stuff like that. But it just depends on how you bounce back, you know, say­ing like you have you have to have that men­tal­i­ty. Coach Mora always talks about it. Coach Shear­er, he always talks about it. Every­one, you know what I’m say­ing, you just got to play your role and just bounce back.

Evan: I feel like some of the moments as far as to pre­pare you for these types of moments real­ly hap­pen ear­ly in high school. Was there a par­tic­u­lar moment you would say that real­ly pre­pared you for some of the chal­lenges that you’re going on with the team right now?

Bryan: Yeah, I’d say my junior year in my high school, you know what I’m say­ing, we had an okay sea­son, but like in the begin­ning, it was rough like how we are right now. And towards the end, we start­ed to like get back on track and stuff like that. And I feel like it’s the same thing right now. And one of my chal­lenges in that moment, you know what I’m say­ing, like I had run an out route, and then boom, I got hit in the face with the ball because of like the glare from the light and stuff. I was so mad. My coach pulled me out. He had a long talk with me, you know, say­ing just bounce back and all that. And then ever since, you know, I just kept my head on a swiv­el and just kept going, you know what I’m say­ing, like, you’re going to make mis­takes and stuff, but you just got to bounce back.

Evan: One of the things I real­ly like about you is the resilien­cy, the abil­i­ty to real­ly get past some of these moments. But when, you know, when you’re get­ting to sort of learn about the game with, you know, with your dad and every­thing, was there some­thing that he real­ly told you that sort of helped ini­tial­ly get you toward that path of resilien­cy and being able to get past some of these moments that you’re going right now?

Bryan: Yeah, real­ly like, I did­n’t real­ly know this as a kid, but like, stay­ing hum­ble, like, you know, that plays a big, big fac­tor in any­thing you do, you know, say­ing if you stay hum­ble, God will bless you. If you stay hum­ble, coach­es will see that too. You know, even if you have the skill set and you still got to stay like hum­ble and all that. So that’s what my dad always told me, to stay humble.

Evan: Gotcha. Obvi­ous­ly, you know, you said you com­mit­ted in the spring what was it sort of like get­ting to actu­al­ly work with the team ear­ly and being able to learn about your team­mates, about the pro­gram and everything?

Bryan: It was at first, you know, like I’m a lit­tle shy. So it takes me time to like, build up and talk to you and stuff. But like, I’m gonna say, like the sec­ond day, you know what I’m say­ing So I was already feel­ing it, you know, say­ing like, it was, it was pret­ty. They brought me and his fam­i­ly and stuff. So I feel like it was pret­ty easy to, like, just grasp on him and stuff like that and just know that they’re always there for me.

Evan: Was there a par­tic­u­lar moment you could say that, like, real­ly helped you break out of your shell a lit­tle bit?

Bryan: I’m gonna say, in the receivers room, you know, say­ing we had a lit­tle meet­ing and stuff, so, you know, like, is just like for, like kids again, real­ly, it’s a busi­ness, but, you know, so you feel like kids and stuff. You get to them and stuff like that, all that. So that’s when I knew that like this is real­ly fam­i­ly stuff.

Evan: I’m inter­est­ed. I always hear such great things about how Cam has real­ly helped some of these younger guys get actu­al­ly accli­mat­ed to the room. Was there a par­tic­u­lar thing he told you that real­ly helped you get accli­mat­ed faster?

Bryan: You know, he just said that, like if you’re ready to play and you want to play then just be ready, you know what I’m say­ing? Like if you want to play around and stuf, then do that. But if you real­ly want it and stuff, then be ready. Evan: I’m inter­est­ed. How do you sort of keep, you know, the same ener­gy going from a bye week to going right back at it, you know, going into a game that you guys sort of need to win, obvi­ous­ly, to keep going in the sea­son? How do you sort of keep that same energy?

Bryan: Real­ly just the coach­es, you know what I’m say­ing, hey, they want to push you to your best abil­i­ty. So I feel like them yelling at us. Them fuel­ing us, you know, that real­ly gets you going and stuff. So I feel like that could help you and just like keep your mind­set on the right path and stuff like that. Just get past all that stuff and just stay on track.

Evan: You know, you’re obvi­ous­ly strong in so many ways. Obvi­ous­ly, the speed stands out, but what’s some of the stuff that you’re real­ly work­ing out right now to bet­ter your game? Bryan: Real­ly right now, just play­ing foot­ball, you know what I’m say­ing like, you could do that and stuff, but you real­ly got to like see the field and stuff.I feel like that’s one thing I lack in right now and I feel like me going to like the actu­al col­lege speed and stuff like that. I feel like that’s some­thing I’m work­ing on right now.

Evan: You know, you’re put in such a role so abrupt­ly then maybe some oth­er peo­ple obvi­ous­ly, before the for the sea­son. But, you know, you’re sort of put right in the mid­dle of it. How do you sort of adjust like right then and there? Obvi­ous­ly, it’s still some­thing that you’re going to work on, but how do you how do you real­ly get into it?

Evan: I’m sor­ry if I did­n’t, like enun­ci­ate that. Bryan: Nah, you did. That’s a good ques­tion, but nah just like by time and time you see how peo­ple play and you see how they come in and stuff. So like you got to adjust to that. So I feel like, I don’t real­ly know. You just got to like, adjust to it. Real­ly. Evan: You just got­ta have that dog? Bryan: *laughs* Yeah.

Evan: You know, obvi­ous­ly being with some of the younger guys right now in this room, you know, I’ve been able to talk to Zack <Drawdy>, I’ve been able to sort of get a feel for some prac­tices. What’s sort of like the cama­raderie like amongst the fresh­men right now?

Bryan: We all just got to be dogs and stuff. We’re the young guys and stuff. So like, you know, all the old guys and stuff, they’re not going to be here. So we got to take their role and stuff. So I feel like we just feed off their ener­gy and stuff like that.

Evan: I want to real­ly go back to the faith thing. I real­ly think that that’s real­ly awe­some to talk about. I talked to Buck a lit­tle bit before about his faith jour­ney. How does God real­ly help, you know, all of you guys real­ly with the receiv­er room in gen­er­al, how do you guys sort of lean on him a lit­tle bit? Bryan: You know what I’m say­ing like, I feel like we all just need to lean on him like men­tal­ly and phys­i­cal­ly, you know what I’m say­ing? With­out him, there would­n’t be any­thing, you know what I’m say­ing? With­out him, we would­n’t even be here. And so, like, I just feel like with­out faith, like, you got to like, I don’t know, it’s real­ly like self-explana­to­ry, but like, you just got to, like, have faith, you know? So, like, this is some­thing like if you don’t have it, you know, you don’t know when you have faith, you’re just not going to have, like, a good day or some­thing like that. But if you have faith and stuff and, you know, like, the Holy Spir­it’s there with you, you’ll be able to you feel like enthused and stuff like that.

Evan: Was your jour­ney with God, was that real­ly instilled with you like before or even like right at the begin­ning of your foot­ball jour­ney? Where did you start real­ly hav­ing him sort of, like, in your ear a lit­tle bit? Bryan: Yeah, I’m going to say like a lit­tle bit like when I was young, I always went to church and stuff. I knew God, but I did­n’t real­ly know him per­son­al­ly and stuff like that. But like, as, like, my foot­ball jour­ney was going off on, like, that’s when I start­ed to get clos­er to God. I felt like the faith came in more just like, every­thing, you know what I’m say­ing, like, I trust­ed him, prayed before every game and stuff like that. I feel like that real­ly stuck out to me and stuff like that. It kept me focused on want­i­ng to know God more.

Evan: It’s kind of like it’s becom­ing a lot more pop­u­lar, you know, to actu­al­ly have God is at the fore­front of your career. But I know obvi­ous­ly, it’s not some­thing that was ini­tial­ly, you know, pop­u­lar. But how does it feel to sort of have peo­ple, you know, around you that are keep­ing God at the fore­front and hav­ing peo­ple sort of have those ideals?

Bryan: You know, it’s good, you know what I’m say­ing, like, you could I feel like besides foot­ball, you could talk to peo­ple like about God and stuff like that. I feel like it’s like a lot bet­ter now. You could open­ly, like just talk about God and stuff like that and do stuff like that. Not even about foot­ball, but just like, you know, just talk to them and chat with them about God and all that.

Evan: So you’re from Texas. Are you a Tex­ans fan? Bryan: *laughs* A lit­tle bit. I like the Bills Evan: Oh, so you’re a Bills fan. Okay, so who’s one guy in the NFL that you want to be like? Is it Dean­tho­ny Thomas? Bryan: It was, but now, I’m gonna say prob­a­bly like my same build type. You know Tank Dell? Evan: A lit­tle bit. Yeah. Bryan: Yeah. I feel like that’s some­one who I would want to be used as or like, you know, in the NFL and stuff like that.

Evan: What’s your why? Bryan: My why? Evan: I’m inter­est­ed. I always ask peo­ple this, what is your why? Bryan: You know, shoot, real­ly just real­ly just do it for like the peo­ple that real­ly could­n’t do it, you know what I’m say­ing, my dad had dreams of play­ing foot­ball. He went to the mil­i­tary. So both my par­ents, my mom did 24 and my dad did 30. So, like, you know, I feel like that’s my why. And also like my sis­ters, you know what I’m say­ing, they did so much for me as I was younger and stuff like that. And I feel like God put me in this posi­tion into like, do the same thing as them, you know what say­ing like, just give back, you know, just give back to the loved ones and stuff like that.

Evan: I feel like that’s a good intro into this, but obvi­ous­ly you guys had the mil­i­tary game. Your par­ents were in atten­dance also, I believe. How was that actu­al­ly being there and get­ting that moment with them?

Bryan: You know, it was good. They were shocked and stuff, you know what I’m say­ing? They did­n’t know that like they were going to get brought on the field and stuff. They thought they were just going to be shown on the screen. Evan: Okay Bryan: Yeah, they real­ly enjoyed it and stuff. Evan: That’s awe­some. Bryan: It felt good see­ing them smile and stuff.

Evan: Was that the first time they’ve been able to see you in per­son, like at a game or no? Bryan: They went to the NC State game and stuff like that. The only game they haven’t been to is the Geor­gia State one.

Evan: What were the emo­tions like of being able to go on a D1 foot­ball field and have, you know, those peo­ple who’ve real­ly been with you for so long and helped fos­ter this rela­tion­ship with foot­ball? What were the emo­tions like of being able to be on that field and have them in atten­dance and real­ly be able to put on a show for them?

Bryan: Yeah, I was just joy­ful and stuff like that, you know what I’m say­ing. It was like, you know those lit­tle like joy­ful cries that you get? Evan: yeah, yeah. Bryan: That’s what it felt like, you know, see­ing like, just like, “Dang, I’m real­ly here and stuff.” You know what I’m say­ing, like, it’s only the begin­ning though, you know what I’m saying.

Evan: How do you main­tain that con­fi­dence through God? How do you sort of lean on him to be able to put you in the right spot and keep you in the right direc­tion? Bryan: Yeah. Real­ly, like my mom, she always tells me, like, God gives his tough­est bat­tles to his tough­est sol­diers. So I feel like that sticks with me and stuff. So like, you’re going to face adver­si­ty in life, even in the sports that you play. So I feel like that’s real­ly that’s real­ly just what you get. Like you got to have that mind­set and stuff like that. So I feel like you just got to have faith and just stay in touch with it, you know what I’m saying?

Evan: Gotcha. I’m inter­est­ed you obvi­ous­ly talked a lit­tle bit how you went to church as a kid. You kept God, you know, on your shoul­der all this time. But how did your par­ents, you know, specif­i­cal­ly, helped real­ly get you to sort of open up to God and and keep fol­low­ing him?

Bryan: Real­ly, they would just like talk to me about like how am I doing with God and stuff like that as I was younger and stuff. And then, even­tu­al­ly, we start­ed going to Bible study and stuff like that. And, and we’ll just have like small talks and stuff like that and I feel like me being able to talk to my par­ents about God, it made me go out there and talk to oth­er peo­ple about God and stuff like that. And I feel like it just brought me clos­er to him and fam­i­ly more honestly.

Evan: That’s all the ques­tions I have for you, for you. Bri­an, Real­ly appre­ci­ate you doing this. Awe­some talk­ing God with you, foot­ball, and every­thing too.

Bryan: I appre­ci­ate you.