As a freshman on a Weddington High team that would eventually win the 2023 North Carolina state 4-A football title, Bryce Johnson went head-to-head daily in practice against a trio of future major college defenders.

Johnson, an offensive lineman, reacted differently to the challenge of competing against defensive lineman Aiden Harris (South Carolina), linebacker Andrew Harris (South Carolina) and linebacker Thomas Davis Jr. (Notre Dame) than most young blockers, according to Weddington coach Andy Capone.

“As a young kid he never shied away from them,” Capone said. “He was always wanting to get better going against them. You could tell he wasn’t going to be afraid of any moment or player. Going against those guys who were already getting recruited by schools at the highest level, you could tell he was going to be special.”

Fast forward to 2026 and it’s Johnson who has become the major college prospect. The 6-foot-4, 300-pound center-guard has drawn scholarship offers from the likes of Appalachian State, Army, Campbell, Charlotte, Dartmouth, Delaware State, East Tennessee State, Elon, Georgia Southern, James Madison, Liberty, Marshall, Memphis, Miami of Ohio, Samford, Troy and Tulane. But it was East Carolina that landed a verbal commitment from Johnson on June 24.

Johnson just helped the Warriors produce a 10-0 regular season finish that included the Southern Carolina 6A/7A Conference championship. They have earned the No. 1 seed in the West Region for the state 7A playoffs and received a first-round bye this week. Weddington is scheduled to open its playoff run Nov. 13 against the first-round winner between Hopewell and Porter Ridge.

The situation is similar to the 2023 season when the Warriors went 8-2 in the regular season before reeling off six straight playoff victories, including a 56-21 triumph against Wilmington Hoggard in the state title game. Although just a freshman, Johnson played a major role as Weddington’s “sixth man” on the offensive line.

“He was our sixth man and got a lot of reps,” Capone said. “Late in the playoff we did a lot of six-man line stuff so he played a lot of football. We’d split out tackle out at tight end and our guard out to tackle, so he’d go in at that guard. He got a ton of reps and played a bunch of guard for us.”

Johnson would move into a starting role at guard as a sophomore and helped Weddington to a 13-1 record. The Warriors were knocked out of the playoffs by eventual state 4A champion Grimsley in the West Region finals, 35-23, in a game that would eventually prompt a position change for Johnson.

“We got beat by Grimsley his sophomore year when they put a big defensive lineman (Bryce Davis) who went to Duke in at nose guard,” Capone said. “Our poor 230-pound center fought his butt off, but at some point we said we’re not going to get beat by a nose guard ever again. So we made the move for Bryce to go to center. It could help him with his college recruiting. He’s a big kid with his arm length and all that stuff people care about too much. Having the flexibility to do both guard and center at that next level will only make him more valuable.”

Johnson would earn first-team All-Charlotte Observer and Southern Carolina 6A/7A Conference honors as a junior as Weddington went 12-3 and advanced to the West Region finals before falling to Grimsley, 13-7.

Capone has been both a productive player and leader for an offense that is averaging 41 points a game this season.

“He continues to get better and step into that role as a leader,” Capone said. “He doesn’t take reps off. He’s on the scout team helping our D-line get better. We have a very good D-line so it obviously helps him get better as well. He’s our anchor so that we can do what we need to do and run behind him. He kind of sets the tone for us.”

Major colleges had already started recruiting Johnson at that point. Boston College was the first school to offer a scholarship during his freshman season. East Carolina came into the picture after his junior season, extending an offer when Johnson was on campus for a game-day visit in November 2025. He made an unofficial visit to ECU last April then came back for an official visit June 18-20. Four days later he offered his verbal pledge to the Pirates.

“He really liked his time down there and said it felt like home,” said Capone, who added ECU is getting a player who is both versatile and talented.

“I’ve been doing this (head coaching) for nine years now and he’s probably the best one (offensive lineman) we’ve had,” Capone said. “We’ve sent some guys to bigger schools and all of that. But overall, what Bryce brings to us, and that he’s been doing it for four years on the varsity level, he’s definitely the best one we’ve had. He’s just a guy who is big and nasty. He loves being physical and he loves taking it to the D-line.”

Johnson is expected to graduate from Weddington in June and enroll at ECU in January.