SIGNED, SEALED, delivered. Melrose High senior Braden Marceau-Olayinka is living the dream after signing to play football with Stanford University. (photo by Raj Das edphotos.com)
Football great’s dreams come true with D1 scholarship
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—It’s every sport parents’ dream and now it’s a reality for the family of Braden Marceau-Olayinka of Melrose.
The Melrose High senior football captain has signed with Power 5 Stanford University Football in a full athletic scholarship. And on Wednesday Feb. 1, Marceau-Olayinka signed his national letter of intent at the David Driscoll Learning Commons at Melrose High School, accepting the football scholarship at Pac-12 Stanford.
The 6-foot-3, 260-pounder received a formal offer in January shortly after his 2022 season at Melrose High, when he was selected by the MA High School Football Coaches Association’s first All-State team. As a lineman, he led Melrose for two straight seasons in sacks, tackles for loss and during his senior year, pass breakups. He’s also a prolific wrestler at Melrose High, becoming a Div. 3 state silver medalist last year in the heavyweight class and helping Melrose earn a Dual State wrestling title just last week.
Braden is expected to play defensive tackle with Stanford. It’s Melrose High School’s most impressive signing since John Needham committed to Duke 15 years ago. And it’s a Cinderella story for Braden with a recruitment journey that happened at breakneck pace in his junior and senior years. The lineman had over 20 Division I offers from colleges and universities, including Ivies, before verbally committing to Columbia University last summer. Then, the home of Jim Plunkett, John Elway and Andrew Luck came knocking.
Braden took a recent trip out to Palo Alto where he, along with other recruits, reportedly met with alumnae such as Condoleezza Rice and Andrew Luck. Talk about bringing out the big guns. Braden left the weekend with nothing official, unsigned, but as a testament to how much the school wanted him, Stanford coaches Troy Taylor (head coach) and positional coach Ross Kolodziej and Bobby April, flew out on Monday, January 23 and arrived at Melrose High to personally to get Braden to sign. Braden made it official in front of friends, family and the Melrose High community on Wednesday Feb. 1.
Sure enough, he will be flying out in late June to begin his freshmen football training at Stanford.
On Wednesday, Feb. 1, a large amount of students, teachers, family, press and school administrators were on hand to celebrate their native son. Braden was admittedly blown away by the reception.
“It’s amazing. I’m so appreciative of the people who are here, it is way more people than I expected,” he said. “To have such overwhelming support by my teammates and coaches and students means so much to me. I’ve been dreaming of Power 5 football since I was a kid, and this was an opportunity I could never pass up.”
Last summer he gave a verbal commit to Columbia, who were gracious about his reversal. “I love Columbia and there were no bad options. Stanford was just a dream.” He spoke of the quick recruitment from Stanford, who recently hired new head coach Taylor, who made a beeline for Melrose’s #75.
“It happened in a whirlwind,” says Braden. “The coaches approached me on Twitter, then on the phone, and then invited me out, and I loved the campus in Palo Alto, where it was 60 degrees and sunny when I was out there. The coaches were amazing. I met a few of the guys on the team and they were so welcoming. They’re putting together a winning culture that I’m excited to be a part of.”
For mom Annique Marceau, it’s a real dream come true. “He knew that he always wanted to play high level football and his goal was the NFL from as early as age 5.”
But as an academically strong student, Braden had a lot of options when it came to finding both a challenging school with a superb football program. Ivies came a’callin. “Braden makes a lot of great choices and I wanted to give him every opportunity that’s out there,” says his mom, while noting also that its stellar psychology program was also a big factor. “He’s always been interested in psychology and Stanford sets the bar in it.”
His head football coach at Melrose High, Tim Morris, lauded Braden as the ideal student athlete. “What sets him apart is that he put himself in the position academically to have these opportunities. He’s not just a great, three-sport athlete but he has the grades. Credit to him as a student which shows you can reach the heights of IVYs and NESCACs while staying public. But, it takes the kind of work ethic that Braden has.”
Is there a good chance Melrose fans will see him in the NFL? Over the last six NFL drafts, Stanford has had 24 players drafted. Thirty-seven players were selected in the NFL Draft since 2012, which leads the PAC 12. There have been hundreds in a century who have signed with the NFL coming out of the school, so let’s just say there is a good chance there is a future beyond collegiate ball, and that’s something Braden is incredibly grateful for.
He says, “Thanks to my mom, my coaches at Melrose and all the community who have supported me. But mostly I thank God. I’m a religious man and God is great. It’s a humbling experience to see what He has given.”
So, does Braden have any advice for young athletes who want to rise to as great heights as he has? Particularly football players?
“Be persistent. I’ve never started something I didn’t finish. Don’t quit. There were many times I was frustrated at a loss or when I had a bad game, but that’s part of the game as an athlete. It’s going to happen, so just get better so it doesn’t happen again. The biggest thing is to keep working and keep picking yourself up.”