ICONIC Athlete of the Week
TOO GUDE TO BE TRUE
Avon senior linebacker Brevon Gude hits the books as hard as he hits opponents.
(Photo by Rick Myers)
By Mike Beas
Avon senior Brevon Gude, who recently started his final season of high school football inside Lucas Oil Stadium, hopes to finish it there.
Visions of playing in a state championship game don’t make Gude unique. The 5-10, 233-pound outside linebacker has plenty of other attributes doing that as he leads the defense of the Orioles, the state’s third-ranked squad in Class 6A.
Gude, a two-year starter whose 4.0 grade-point average ranks him 135th academically in Avon’s senior class of 780 students, is one of the team captains.
“What being a captain means to me is doing everything I can do for those following me. I think that work ethic is huge, and I learned work ethic from football,” Gude said. “Basically, I learned that when you do something you have to put everything into it whether it’s weightlifting, practice or studying in or out of the classroom.”
As a junior, Gude’s 75 tackles, including nine for loss, helped Avon produce its ninth consecutive winning record. The Orioles opened this season at Lucas Oil Stadium with a 48-14 victory over Columbus North. The CNHS Bulldogs are coached by Avon coach Mark Bless’s younger brother, Tim.
Playing limited snaps as the Orioles dominated early, leading 41-0 at halftime, Gude contributed five tackles.
Gude’s brother Brody is a junior linebacker for the DePauw Uni- versity football team who through two seasons with the Tigers has 72 tackles, including 12.5 for loss, and a pair of interceptions. Their sister, Brynn, is a freshman cheerleader at Avon.
Brevon would like to follow his older sibling’s footsteps by getting the opportunity to play football on Saturday afternoons. DePauw and Wabash College have already shown interest, along with Butler, University of Indianapolis, Indiana State and Valparaiso.
His post-college dream is to one day become an electrical engineer.
Gude doesn’t hesitate when asked which former Avon player he’s most patterned his approach to balancing football and studies. Ca- den Hubner, a three-year starter at outside linebacker from 2016-18 who is now at the United States Air Force Academy, provided the blueprint.
As if spotting a fumbled pigskin, Gude instinctively picked it up and ran with it.
“Our coaches always look at him as the most-elite player,” said Bless, the Avon coach in his 10th year who has led the program to 6A semistate berths two of the last four seasons. “Brevon is a high-academic student, one of our captains and always concerned about the team over himself.
“His work ethic and accountability, other players see that and it makes an impact on them. Brevon is an impressive young man, and he happens to be a pretty good football player, too.”
As for Avon being able to advance to its first state championship football game in November, there are no guarantees.
However, the Orioles have a Gude chance.
