As QU football hosts its senior day for their players, it is the last time two players get to play on the same home field together as Brandon Granger and Brock Inman put their pads on for the last time as teammates. This journey of friendship started 16 years ago as two young boys strapped up to play their first game of football on a grass field in the middle of Arnold, Missouri.

In the Jefferson County Youth Association youth football draft, the two boys were drafted to the Tigers football team. From there, their friendship took off as they won football games and developed their skills and love for the game. The team ended up winning the league championship multiple times in the Gateway Select Conference and developed into leaders on and off the field. As their time at JCYA ended, it was time to walk different paths through middle school and high school.

“Well, throughout the years, they went to separate high schools and played against each other but stayed as friends and then got to meet up here at Quincy,” Lenzen said.

The two high schools these men attended were bitter sports rivals. Inman went to Fox High School, and just seven miles away, Brandon represented the Jaguars of Seckman High School.

As the two grew older, their families’ relationships strengthened. Tabbi Granger and Tracy Inman developed their friendship even more as they watched their sons play against each other.

“Oh, I can’t even explain it. I mean, we’re all one big family. We started when the kids were five years old, and now, seeing them as young men is unbelievable. We’re even closer now than we were when the kids were younger. It’s great that we all reunited again and got to see all the boys together again,” Granger said.

Four years later, they were reunited. Brock and Brandon committed to playing football for the Quincy University Hawks, and their impact was seen on the field once they got there.

Brandon is now a four-year starter on the defensive line, and Brock is a second-team GLVC linebacker, as well has continued the legacy of the number twenty-two in the linebacker room, but now it is time for these two men to say farewell to each other. This ending of play on the field hurts the moms just a little more as they reminisce about the old times with each other.

“Oh, I’m going to miss their friendship. They’re joking back and forth and just having each other to talk to,” Tracy Inman said.

While these two men’s time on the field together has come to an end, not time to look at the past, but instead look to the future as Brandon moves on to join the police academy and Brock uses his final year of eligibility at Quincy University, it is the end of this chapter of their lives but their friendship will still keep growing.