Student-Athlete Profile -- Datrin Guyton
August 11, 2015 | Football
By Brooks Hatch
OSUBeavers.com
Opposing defensive backs are an insignificant opponent when compared to the obstacles and adversity redshirt freshman wide receiver Datrin Guyton overcame on his way to Oregon State.
His mother, Denise Guyton, is finally healthy after battling breast cancer.
His older brother, Gerrel, was murdered nearly four years ago.
And after setting numerous school receiving records and earning Dallas Morning News Texas top-100 honors at Manor High School in Austin, Datrin sat out 2014 in an alien environment while redshirting, his first season on the sidelines since he began playing football as a youth.
A formidable combination to counterpunch, for sure.
But the personable 6-foot-5, 203-pound 19-year-old said the personal tragedies and competitive challenges have only made him stronger. They've further steeled his resolve to be a major contributor in Year 1 of the Gary Andersen coaching era.
“It definitely has made me tougher,” Guyton said after a recent practice, alluding to the hardships he's faced thus far in an eventful life. “I've been through some hard things.
“But I never looked at them as bad things. I looked at it as a pushing-stone,” just another obstacle to be shouldered aside while negotiating the road to lifetime success. “That's why I keep driving forward, and try to get better and better every day.
“I know my brother is up there watching me. That's why I continue to drive. He would want this for me.”
Gerrel was 18 years old and just starting to mature and turn his life around when he was killed on Oct. 22, 2011, his daughter's birthday.
“It hurt,” recalled Datrin, who was 15 years old at the time. “But I just used it as my drive, something to help me get better,” and accomplish some of the things denied Gerrel.
“He would want me to go to college, he would want me to succeed,” Datrin said of his late brother. “That's why I try to do everything right to show my little brother (Peyton) the right way to do things.
“My big brother didn't always necessarily do the right things. But I always look into the sky and imagine he's there.”
Imagination isn't necessary when it comes to his mother, Denise. Now recovered from breast cancer, Datrin describes her as his “rock,” another family member who motivates him to become the best he can be.
“She is perfectly healthy, we beat the cancer,” he said. “What opened my eyes to how strong my mom is, was even though she had breast cancer, her own problems, when I lost my brother and was up at 3 or 4 in the morning she was right there with me.
“While I was crying, she was telling me, 'We're gonna be alright, we're gonna make it.' She put her own problems aside to help me. I would do anything for her, anything.”
Datrin hoped to wear No. 18 when he came to OSU in 2014 to honor his older brother, who was just 18 years of age when he died. But that number already belonged to teammate Malik Gilmore, so he took No. 9 instead.
No problem there; No. 9 also had special significance, dating back to his Manor High School days.
“In middle school, I always wore No. 5,” he said. “When I got to Manor, they had set the No. 9 jersey aside,” in honor of predecessor LaDarrien Williams, a MHS star who now plays basketball at Abilene Christian University.
“They said. 'If you want this number you have to earn it, because LaDarrien started as a freshman” and was a star. “I took that as a driver, and I broke all his school records. So I'm alright with No. 9.”
Datrin is battling for a spot in what the coaching staff hopes will be an eight-man receiving rotation. Six combined lettermen return at split end, slot and flanker, so there is ample opportunity for playing time.
“I'm excited to get back out on the field,” he said. “Redshirting helped me develop and I am way better than I was when I got here. I got better at route-running, becoming a precise route-runner, breaking down on short balls, and learning the playbook.
“If I would have played last year, I would not have been as good as I'm going to be. I would have been more susceptible to being hurt because I wasn't as strong. I've put on about 35 pounds, from 176 to 210, and I got faster and stronger. I came in squatting 315; now I squat 430, and bench 290.”
Wide receivers coach Brent Brennan said mentoring Datrin and the other wideouts, and getting to know them as people instead of mere football players, is the fun part of coaching.
“The stronger those relationships are, the better chance you have of coaching them, the more willing they are to listen and the more they will trust your teaching,” he said.
“Datrin and I have come a long ways and we are continuing to build our trust. I love him, his ability and his competitiveness. He'll just keep getting better.
“I think he's grown up, which has been fun to watch,” Brennan added. “He's putting himself in position to compete and to make an impact. I'm really excited about his growth as a player, and as a person.”
Datrin worked with Brennan and offensive quality control coach Kevin Cummings, an OSU receiver from 2010-13, extensively last fall and in the offseason to become a more polished and prepared receiver.
“Coach B kept encouraging me, showed me how to watch film, told me exactly what I needed to work on, and how to do it,” Datrin said. “I worked with Kevin every day on cone drills, trying to develop my stop game.
“I couldn't stop when I first got here. That was a part of my game I needed to work on … they just kept working with me, and I got better.”
Datrin said his biggest asset is the combination of his 6-5 frame and speed. A track star at Manor, he describes himself as “sudden.”
“You don't see many people with my size” who are also “sudden,” he said.
A sociology major, Datrin said he hopes to be a college graduate playing in the National Football League five years down the road.
“I have a great opportunity a lot of people don't get,” he said.
And if that dream comes true? Well, he'll be thrilled but you won't see him copying the antics of his favorite athlete, volatile Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant.
“I'm really not a very emotional person; I don't like to show emotion,” he said. “I try to channel all my emotions in because, that's how I deal with stuff.”
