Jasen Bracy didn't let visible obstacles hold him back from reaching for his dreams of being a quarterback. The 15-year-old was diagnosed with retinoblastoma when he was 1 year old, but he's quickly earning a reputation as a phenom on the football field.

"I never used, even once, that I can't see as an excuse. Never have, never will," Jasen, who plays for the Modesto Raiders and lives in California, said, per CNN. "I told my team that the only difference between me and the other quarterback is that he has a different number, and that's it."

Fields of vision!
Jasen Bracy lost the ability to see at the age of seven.
But that didn’t stop the 15-year-old Californian from reaching his goal of playing quarterback. pic.twitter.com/XnljE5uJsh

— populist online (@PopulistOnline) November 30, 2021

Jasen told the outlet that he grew up with a love for the sport, spending three days a week with his father narrating every game of football season for him. At that point, Jasen said he found his calling, telling himself, "Maybe one day I'll be on TV on the football field myself."

"There's no limits, and if there's something in the way, I'll find out how to get around it or over it. I'll find a way to achieve my goal in the best way possible," he said.

Jasen underwent several treatments in an attempt to correct his vision, but they were unsuccessful. By the time he was 7 years old, he was completely blind. He said the only thing he can envision is if it's day or night.

When Jasen turned 13 years old, his parents gifted him with a cell phone to give him more accessibility. But, Jasen used it to push his own agenda and called every football team in the area to see if they would give him a chance. According to CBS, his parents weren't exactly sold on his football dreams but they eventually came around.

"All of a sudden, one day we get a call from Coach David Nichols saying, 'Hey, I got a call from your son asking if he can come play football for us, but did he say he was blind?'" Jasen's father, Jasen Bracy Sr., said, per CNN.

Coach Nichols said he had his own apprehensions at first, given the obvious challenges ahead for Jasen, but he said those thoughts subsided once he saw what he was capable of.

"I've always accepted him, but I was like, 'How am I going to do this?' Once you see him out there, it's different," Nichols told CNN. "He knows where to be at, where to hand the ball off, where the kid's going to be at, he knows how to get the points," Nichols said.

Jasen memorized every play including all of the placements of his teammates. Along with the help of his father, who tells him what the field looks like through a walkie-talkie on the sidelines, he's caught the attention of several important figures. Typically, other teams don't even know that he's blind when he's on the field.

"I don't tell them, not before or after the game, so they don't even think about easing up on me," he said. "I'm the quarterback, and one of the quarterback's jobs is leading the team. As a leader, I have to take control of this team, lead them through good and bad times no matter the situation I have to get us through. And I'm tough as iron. I am going to play hard."

Modesto-Raiders

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