Four years ago, Brian Hughes was more concerned with avoiding bullets than sacks. This season, as a redshirt freshman Hughes has already seen playing time for the Lions. With experience from the military and as an honored high school football player, Hughes said he plans to make the most of the rest of his football seasons here in Commerce. Hughes said he first took interest in football when he was only five years old. While growing up in Paris, Texas, Hughes attended Chisum High School and Paris High School where he was named All-District four times, named All Red River Valley, was All-State selection for three weeks, and team captain his senior year.
Hughes broke all of the passing records at Chisum High and three passing records at Paris High. It was at Paris High School where he broke passing records of 1,580 yards, and 21 of 27 completions in one game.
Hughes got to play football on the 2A and 4A level in high school. He has a record of 30 high school passing touchdowns and 12 rushing touchdowns. Overall, Hughes has 4,500 passing yards in his career.
Hughes said he loves to work out and push his teammates in preparation of game days, and said there is not any other position like quarterback where he can go out and lead his team. “To me, football is like the old gladiator times,” Hughes said. “There is nothing better than going through hell with your teammates and coming out with a win.”
After Hughes graduated high school in 2004, he gained a full-ride football scholarship for his freshman year at A&M-Commerce. After the fall semester, Hughes put college on hold and joined the Marines with his best friend. “He is like a brother to me,” Hughes said. “I know he would have backed me up if I would have decided to do something like that. We joined together on Jan. 2, 2005.” Hughes said his experience in the military was something he would never forget; he had good and bad times serving for four years and three months in the Marines. According to Hughes, he learned a lot from being in the military and did a lot of growing up. He also went through a lot of mental and physical experiences, having to run three miles a day and go on 15 mile hikes with an 80 lbs pack on his back.
“They push you until you are ready to break, and once you do, they just bring you more,” Hughes said. Hughes lived in California by the beach for three years, before being deployed to Iraq. As he was serving in Fallujah and Ramadi Hughes said it was the longest and hottest times of his life.
“I seriously thought it was never going to end,” he said. “It made me realize how good we have it here in the States. I’m pretty sure I kissed the ground when I got back into Texas. All around I think it was really good for me and was the right decision to make.” Even when he was in the Marines, Hughes kept playing sports. He played All Marine Baseball and got to travel with the team all over the west coast. After his service in the Marines, Bryan came back to A&M-Commerce for his second time as a redshirt freshman on the field.
He said he loves to work with football coach Guy Morris and is glad Commerce is closer to home. Because of his service in the Marines, Hughes’ tuition is paid for from his GI bill, and he said he is prepared for intense football conditioning practices and ready to get back on the Lion’s football field.