When Bryce Llewellyn stepped foot on Scheurmann Field to play against Ball State University on Nov. 15, 2025, he wasn’t just playing for himself and the Eastern Michigan University football program.
The Indianapolis native was playing for his friends and family and reinvoking memories from his father’s playing days on the exact gridiron over two decades ago.
Marlon Llewellyn, Bryce Llewellyn’s father, was a linebacker for the Ball State Cardinals from 1996-2000, winning a Mid-American Conference championship with the program in 1996.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, and immigrating to the United States at the age of six, Marlon Llewellyn’s path through life was never easy — but the value of education was one instilled in him by his grandmother at an early age.
“My grandmother who came over [to the U.S.] first, her first responsibility was to find myself and my cousin and my sister a school to go to — [that was] her first job,” he said.
At the end of Marlon Llewellyn’s high school football tenure, this became the deciding factor in where he would continue his collegiate career, and one that would change the course of his life forever.
“One of the [Ball State] coaches stands up and said, ‘Hey Marlon, we promised your mom if you come to Ball State, you’ll graduate college,'” he reminisced.
Despite a partial scholarship from “Power 4” Southeastern Conference institution Auburn University, Marlon Llewellyn chose the mid-major of Ball State.
“Life is all about lived experiences — and Ball State has given me so many lived experiences,” he said.
Marlon Llewellyn’s path to Ball State foreshadowed his son’s journey to and through college at Eastern Michigan University.
Bryce’s road to Ypsilanti
“Bryce and my daughter [Emersyn], they both inspire me,” Marlon Llewellyn said.
Bryce Llewellyn was a standout athlete at Cathedral High School, a Catholic school based in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was rated a three-star prospect on multiple recruiting websites after graduating in 2022.
After Bryce Llewellyn spent his first two years of collegiate eligibility at the Football Championship Subdivision for Charleston State University, Marlon Llewellyn revealed that Eastern Michigan football head coach Chris Creighton used a pitch similar to the one that Ball State’s coaches gave him nearly three decades ago.
“The promise that coach Creighton made to all our families is, No. 1, you’re going to have an amazing experience — you’re gonna graduate — but also have the opportunity to be a part of a family,” he said.
“What coach Creighton has done for 13, 14-plus years at Eastern Michigan should be commended,” he added.
Bryce Llewellyn made the decision to take Creighton up on his commitment and transferred to Eastern Michigan in 2024, beginning his Eagle career with a relatively quiet campaign after starting two games and recording nine tackles along with two pass breakups.
This year, however, has been a vastly different story. He has started each game for the Eagles this season, leading the team in tackles, interceptions, and sits tied for a team-high in pass breakups and fumble recoveries.
“When I first got here last season, I wasn’t able to play, so from then until now, I’m proud of the way I’ve been able to develop and grow in the defense that Coach [Ben] Needham is the head of,” he said when asked to evaluate his performance in 2025.
One of Bryce Llewellyn’s biggest contributions to the football program hasn’t been on the field. With the trend of turnover chains sweeping through college football in recent years, he helped Eastern Michigan craft their own tradition to reward the defense for forcing an early departure to the offense from the field — the MACcoon chain.
“At the end of the day, we’re playing a game, so it's all about having fun, and so if we’re not having fun doing it, then why are we doing it in the first place?” he said.
With approval from Creighton, merchandise from the Sickos Committee, and viral videos explaining the phenomenon, the MACcoon trend has taken the college football world by storm.
“When [Bryce] got that first interception, I have that picture in my office right now. I love that picture of him with that [MACcoon] chain,” Marlon Llewellyn said.
Scotchy’s Jamaican Grill
“You know when God speaks to you,” Marlon Llewellyn said when asked how the inspiration for Scotchy’s Jamaican Grill, the father and son’s current pop-up Jamaican cuisine restaurant, came about.
Marlon Llewellyn revealed that God spoke to him in church roughly two years ago to launch the concept after a decade of the idea resting deep inside of his notes.
Aiming to honor his late mother, a Jamaican restaurateur in her own right, he listened and refused to let fear preclude him from embarking on the venture any longer. A phone call with his son followed, with Bryce Llewellyn responding by telling his father two vital words.
“Let's go,” he said.
The pair propelled the initiative off the ground in June 2024, selling out multiple pop-up shops at Fishers Test Kitchen in Fishers, Indiana, which led to the test kitchen offering Scotchy’s an incubation space later that year.
After a successful incubation period, the Jamaican grill continued to expand its roots. Featured placement in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the home of the National Basketball Association’s Indiana Pacers, and as a vendor during the Indianapolis 500 came shortly thereafter.
Now, Bryce and Marlon Llewellyn set their sights on the future, a goal of expanding to 100 stores across the country by 2030.
