Twins Peak in 2017 NorCal Football Preview

2017 NorCal Football Preview: In Their Third And Final Season, Tariq and TyRee Bracy Are Hoping To Power Milpitas To New Heights •

Story by JAMES G. KANE | Photos by SAMUEL STRINGER

TyRee and Tariq Bracy can’t think of a single thing they don’t have in common. And why would they? The Milpitas High School seniors have been hanging out, experiencing the world in much the same way since …

Well, since they were born.

“It’s all similar,” Tariq, the first-team All-NorCal cornerback, says of his personality and that of his fraternal twin, TyRee, the quarterback who led the Trojans to the California Interscholastic Federation North Regional 4-A championship game. “We see things mostly the same way.”

TyRee Bracy

For that reason, it is not to be taken lightly when each offers without hesitation and with force — similar to how they play — their opinion on the factor they think will move the Trojans toward success.

“Defense,” they say simultaneously.

“Our front seven is going to be a force to be reckoned with,” Tariq says. “And we have a pretty good secondary, too. We’re fired up.”

Why wouldn’t they be? The future for both of them individually is as bright as it gets. TyRee, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound shifty, quick athlete is about to enter his third varsity season and second as the team’s starting quarterback. He threw for 2,600 yards and 24 touchdowns in the Trojans’ 10-4 campaign. He ran for five more.

Tariq, at 6-0, 185 pounds, is one of the Central Coast Section’s best running backs and a shutdown cornerback, so accomplished already that he has received 11 Division I scholarship offers. One came from Cal, another from Notre Dame.

“They’re both great players,” Milpitas coach Kelly King says. “Special talents.”

The Trojans have plenty of other talent, as well, and much of it comes with at least a year of varsity experience. That’s good news for a team that is suiting up 42 players, down from 60 a season ago.

“We’ve got a lot of really good players,” King says. “You could have 60 players and not have as many great ones as this team does. Most of them are battle-tested and ready to play.”

The Bracys answer to that description, obviously, but both insist the Trojans’ success is far more than just the sum of their two parts. They each point to the defense as often as they point to each other.

Thing is, it’s a pretty good point they make.

Start with Tariq, who is deceptively strong for his listed weight of 180 pounds, and helps make the field smaller for opposing quarterbacks. He intercepted five passes a season ago.

It did not lead the team.

That honor went to 6-1, 180-pound Tai Nguyen, now a senior, who swiped six passes a season ago. In two varsity seasons, he has nine interceptions, two fumble recoveries and a blocked punt while playing all 28 games.

Tai Nguyen

Nguyen is complemented by senior Donoven Moore (6-1, 170), who had three pickoffs, and 6-3, 210-pound senior safety Tuni Faletau Fifita, whom King calls “explosive, big, physical and dominant.”

The secondary is helped by a defensive line that Tariq Bracy calls “big and strong,” and features 235-pound senior defensive tackle Bryle Canlas, 260-pound junior Mozes Gurrola, among others. Mykah Gurrola, a 6-4, 270-pound sophomore, and 6-1, 265-pound freshman Toa Fifita also could contribute.

Add it up, and the Trojans — who also are deep at linebacker — may be better defensively than they were a season ago. In 2016, Milpitas produced 51 sacks, caused 31 turnovers and outscored their De Anza Division opponents 203-75 in six games (two of them losses).

The Trojans also allowed only 116 points in their 10 victories.

“A lot of these kids played as juniors and some as sophomores,” King says. “It just kind of jelled, and we got better and did some really good things.”

Milpitas’ continuity on offense also stands out.

TyRee Bracy, a raw talent as a freshman, has refined some of his skills during three varsity seasons. He has improved so much, King says, that the coach now allows Bracy some freedom to dictate the play call at the line.

“He’s been in the same system for three years now,” King says. “He’s making good reads now, making good decisions. You have to be smart to play quarterback in this system, and he’s gotten better at going through his progressions and better at making the right decisions.”

It didn’t take long for TyRee Bracy to introduce his talents. Against Antioch on Sept. 2, in last season’s second game, he threw five touchdowns, all of them to a different receiver and one a perfectly thrown ball to his brother. He also ran for a sixth score.

The performance proved enough to earn Bracy a selection as the San Francisco 49ers’ Week 2 Prep Player of the Week.

He never really slowed down the rest of the season.

“The experience is great, but it’s just one play at a time when it comes to game time,” Bracy says. “And I’m just trying to hone in on my craft. The speed of the game has definitely slowed down, but I still need to read defenses better and do better with my decision-making.”

One decision that rarely goes wrong is when TyRee gets the ball to his brother, no matter by pass or handoff.

Tariq Bracy

Tariq Bracy scored 24 touchdowns a season ago and amassed 2,213 yards of total offense. He caught 52 passes for 1,036 yards and 11 scores. He ran for 1,177 yards and 13 more, averaging almost 9 yards every time somebody handed him the the ball.

He covered another 365 yards on kick and punt returns.

“He’s just a real special player,” King says. “He has lots of speed, runs inside and outside real well.”

The Bracy’s aren’t entirely alone on offense. Faletau Fifita caught 33 passes and scored on six of them last season, and he’s better than ever, King says. The offensive line will be big, with Justin Scrempos (6-8, 310) and Gurrola standing out.

In other words, all the pieces appear to be there as the Trojans eye a state crown.

Yet King, as coaches tend to do, is not assuming anything. He said limited preseason practice time mandated by the CIF — Milpitas played a scrimmage on Aug. 18 and opens the campaign Aug. 25 at home against American — is a concern, as is the loaded league schedule the Trojans play annually.

“The time limit makes it difficult,” King says. “Everything is so crammed that you can’t get everything in and limits the time you spend coaching. But because TyRee has three years in the system, and we have so much of our team back, we’ve had a chance to move a little faster on things.”

All of it points to a season that has the potential to be as electric as any in King’s 28-year reign as the team’s coach, especially if the twins activate their mighty powers.

“Because we’re twins, we feed off each other,” TyRee Bracy says. “We feed off that energy and the helps us to perform better on the field, and hopefully it helps our whole team, too.”

The Trojans are counting on it.