Park Hill South senior Briggs Bartosh signs his letter of intent to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in a packed gymnasium on National Signing Day on Feb. 1.
Park Hill South senior Briggs Bartosh has been a huge asset on the football field in his time with the Panthers but is heading halfway across the country and looking to make an even bigger impact on and off the gridiron.
The star athlete has made the decision to go to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. While Bartosh is going to continue his athletic career there, he will be spending time in the military when his college career is complete.
“What made me make this decision was just God, honestly, and it was kind of just trusting my gut,” Park Hill South senior Briggs Bartosh said. “My family really helped me out with this decision too and I also wanted to put myself in a possession to shape myself into the best man I can be.”
Briggs Bartosh warms up on the sideline of the Class 6 District 4 Championship last fall when the Panthers took on Liberty North.
Bartosh doesn’t come from a military family per se, but his older brother Braden Bartosh is an offensive lineman at Army. While his brother will be there with the 2023 Park Hill South senior, Bartosh feels a strong kinship with the other people he met on his prior trips to the United States Military Academy.
“One thing that really stuck out to me when I visited Army was just the brotherhood and the maturity of all the players and stuff like that. It’s really cool to see that and that is my goal for what I want to get out of college,” Bartosh said.
With a bright future serving his country, Bartosh also has strong potential at Army as a football player. He earned the attention of numerous top-notch football programs around the country before committing to West Point.
“I went on five official visits, so I did my fair share of recruiting and seeing all these places. I went to a bunch of game days, from down to Miami, Florida, to Wisconsin to everywhere,” Bartosh said.
Briggs Bartosh talks in front of the student body before signing his letter of intent in the Park Hill South gymnasium on National Signing Day.
The 5’11, 185-pound star athlete has been one of the best players that Park Hill South has had in recent years, where he has played multiple positions from kick returner to running back to quarterback. He started his senior season as a utility player on offense in the backfield and in the slot, but eventually moved directly under center to be the premier playmaker for the Panthers.
“I’m going to walk into Army being a running back, but they understand that I’m an athlete, and they’re more of a run-base quarterback system so there’s a possibility that I could be switching to quarterback or even wide receiver. I’m going to see where all the playmakers are and what the skill sets are for each position and see how early I can get on the field,” Bartosh said.
Bartosh set some program records when he erupted for 30 total touchdowns and 2,904 total yards this season, where he was a First-Team All-State Athlete, finalist for the Thomas A. Simone Award – which is given to the best football player in all of Kansas City – and a unanimous First-Team All-Conference Athlete. He dealt with an injury bug in his sophomore and junior seasons but took rehab extremely seriously during his senior campaign to make sure he stayed healthy.
“Every day was me doing ice baths, hot tub and sauna stretching. I focused so much on my body over the summer and over the season that it’s something to keep up with, and surgery of course helped,” Bartosh said.
Briggs Bartosh was an all-state athlete had 30 total touchdowns and 2,904 total yards in his senior campaign.
While he was sidelined for all but five games in his junior season, Bartosh was an all-conference honorable mention as a returner on special teams and an athlete on offense when he had 659 total yards and five touchdowns on offense. He was efficient as a returner, bringing back one of his two kick returns and three of his four punt returns all the way to the end zone.
Bartosh has had two different head coaches at Park Hill South as Benny Palmer replaced Alan Wilmes this past year, bringing back a relatively new staff. The future Mule is looking to use his ability to adapt to a new staff in his favor when he plays at the next level.
“There’s been a lot of great coaches along the way, and I feel like it’s kind of an advantage of having two different head coaches. I also had a different weight coaching staff, so I know what I’m looking for in a college now because I feel like they were all a little bit different style of weightlifting,” Bartosh said.
When addressing the packed gymnasium on National Signing Day at Park Hill South, Bartosh said his favorite memory was getting to play with his older brother. He will get plenty of opportunities to do that at West Point, with chances to make a real-world impact through the military afterwards.