ABOVE: Brantley struggled as he bounced from school to school, working to become eligible to play Division 1. (Photo courtesy of @Jaybrant2 on Twitter.)

Several college coaches watched Brantley’s first tournament with the Notre Dame Preparatory School to start the 2012-13 season.

His uncle and mother sat behind a few Georgia Tech scouts while Brantley competed for his third school team in four years. His AAU coach had urged him to enroll at the Fitchburg, Massachusetts, private school to finish his degree.

The Yellow Jackets had recruited him before, but this time, they didn’t recognize him. Brantley had grown out his hair and beard in what his mother called a “no-shave November but for months.” She said he looked like a caveman.

“They were like ‘Oh my goodness. That’s Jaylen Brantley,’” she said. “They had no clue who he was. No clue. No clue. That’s how depressed he was.”

After leaving Wilbraham & Monson, she said she had never seen her son cry so hard for so long. At one point, she said, he was suicidal. She even started bringing Brantley for her visits as a home care nurse, leaving him in the car to “make sure that he was alive.”

She often received phone calls from Notre Dame Prep coaches, asking why he wasn’t happy and didn’t smile. At Odessa, the Texas junior college Brantley attended two years later, his coaches did the same.

“I’m just like ‘I don’t know what to tell you guys,’” she said. “There would be sparks of happiness, but he wasn’t the same kid anymore.”

“Dead man walking,” his uncle said. “Simple.”

After finishing at Notre Dame Prep, Brantley wasn’t eligible to play Division I because he still didn’t meet the core academic requirements. He planned to enroll at a program but sit out a year before his four years of eligibility began.

His wanted to attend UMass Amherst, about 28 miles north of his home, but his mother said no. The school’s proximity bothered her. As her son focused on school, she didn’t want his friends distracting him.

Brantley instead went to Marshall in Huntington, West Virginia, more than 11 hours away.

His mom struggled to hold back tears as she remembered Brantley signing his National Letter of Intent. If he were a high-profile recruit, signing day would have involved cameras and interviews.

That wasn’t the case. Marshall faxed over the paperwork as Brantley and his mom sat in the kitchen. He signed the forms while she snapped a few pictures, but the moment held little significance.

After all, he couldn’t be around the team yet.

“Our lives were in limbo for three years,” his mother said. “Whatever Jaylen’s dreams were were my dreams, and that’s just what it is. Jaylen’s dream was to play basketball in college … and Jaylen’s dream was put on pause, so everybody’s life was put on pause.”