The Grind, presented by Bank of Clarendon: Laurence Manning's Dennis brothers push each other to greatness on court, field

As a fan walking into the Laurence Manning gymnasium on game day, there's a strong chance two athletes immediately catch your eye. One of them is a dynamic sophomore wing, slashing his way to the basket and exploding to the rim with nonchalant ease. The second is likely the first voice you'll hear from the court, the senior point guard directing traffic on both sides of the ball for a talented Laurence Manning squad. Oh, and they share the same last name.

Scoop and Zy Dennis have been fixtures of Swampcat athletics for a few years now. During the winter, they're thriving on the basketball court. In the fall, they're two of the most electric skill players on the LMA football team. In the spring, you'll see that athleticism flying through the base paths on the Swampcat baseball field. These brothers just compete, and they make the most of every opportunity they've gotten.

"For me, if you've got an athletic, competitive kid, you want them to play for you," said Will Epps, who coached the Dennis brothers when they first moved to Laurence Manning. "Every time they worked out, you could see them getting better. Their skill just developed, and when you pair that with athleticism and competitiveness, you've got winners."

FINDING A LOVE FOR SPORTS

While Zy and Scoop are perhaps most known for their skills on the basketball court, it wasn't their first love.

"Everything was baseball," Zy said. "Our dad used to always play baseball, so we wanted to play baseball like him."

Growing up in Sumter, they were in a great community for the sport. The city that birthed Bobby Richardson is rich with baseball history, and it provided the Dennis brothers a shared passion.

"A lot of our friends played when we were in school, younger, so we wanted to play, too," Zy continued. "While we were playing, we just loved it and got close to a lot of people from playing it, and that just made us love it even more."

Things started to change when they got to Bates Middle School. There, they met Coach Jabaar Carmack, who helped them find their new passion on the court.

"He really taught us how to play," Scoop said of his middle school basketball coach. Zy added, "He really gave us a foundation of basketball."

HUNGER TO BE COACHED

No matter the sport, the Dennis brothers have always appreciated a coach who was willing to push them to be the best versions of themselves. When they were growing up playing baseball, Daniel Gordon was able to get the best out of Zy with hard coaching.

"Daniel Gordon was a really hard-nosed coach, which I needed at the moment when I was younger," Zy said. "I wouldn't say I was soft and quiet, but I wasn't what I needed to be. I wasn't laid back, but I wasn't showing what I really could do. He really pushed that out of me."

When the brothers got to middle school, Jabaar gave them that same treatment.

"I coach hard," Jabaar said. "They automatically knew that I didn't mind you making mistakes, but if you keep making mistakes, I have to pull you and communicate with you on the sideline, but I'm going to put you right back in the game."

While it takes the right kind of athlete to be coached that way, it also takes the right kind of parent. Jabaar credits their parents, Octavia English and Albert Dennis, for allowing their children to get the coaching they needed.

"You're not only coaching them, you're coaching their parents, as well. One thing I had to learn to do was build trust with parents. When you build trust with the parents, the parent will show the player that they trust what the coach is instilling," Jabaar said. "That's one thing I appreciated about their mother and father, especially their mother. To this day, I still reach out and ask her how my boys are doing. She was so on board with how I coached them because I was coaching them with life skills because basketball is life."

As Zy and Scoop moved into high school, they got the same lessons, first from Will and now from LMA head coach Patrick Anderson.

"The thing I love about coaching them is that they know they're going to be corrected, they know they'll be disciplined if they do wrong, and their mom is 100% supportive of that," Will said. "Zy wants to be coached. You have to coach Zy on the court during games, during practice. He has to have instruction because he's a talker."

SLOTTING INTO ROLES

For most of their careers on the court, Scoop and Zy have fit perfectly into the roles they're in now. Those roles also parallel their personalities off the court.

Zy was built to be a point guard. He's outgoing, always flashing a giant smile. He's never met a stranger. When his team needs someone to rally the troops and direct traffic, Zy is always willing to step up. His eye for the court helps him facilitate things for the rest of the squad. While he's more than capable of scoring 20 points in a game, he's happy to help the rest of his teammates light up the scoreboard while he racks up assists. That role can come with some outside noise, especially when your younger brother is the team's top scorer. Patrick has been impressed by the way Zy plays his own game, regardless of what other people say.

"That can definitely be tough, and you've got people all around him, teammates and people around the community, who say, 'Why don't you go score?' Being a point guard myself, I know how that is," Patrick said. "He's been very mature, very coachable, and he understands that doesn't have to be him. He needs to be the best version of himself and the best point guard he can be for us to be the best team we can be."

Scoop, meanwhile, is the quiet, more reserved of the pair. He lets his game do the talking. The sophomore moves with such ease that it can be hard to see the level of intensity that he plays with on his face. With his stoic nature, he always remains calm on the court or field, never gets too high or too low.

"I always knew he could be the dominant scorer, score at will all the time, and I knew I could be the leader that can dish the ball out, also score the ball when I have to, but also being that guy that can give the ball to my teammates, create shots for my teammates," Zy said. "I think it's good having him on the court with me because I know what he can do, and I can help him do what he does. He has the athletic body, I'll say I have the IQ. It's really just the chemistry that's there."

Their differences make them a perfect pair on the basketball court. Zy facilitates, and Scoop puts the ball in the hoop.

"They complement each other. God knew what he was doing; He didn't give Octavia two point guards, he gave her a point guard and a wing, a slasher," Will said. "It works out perfectly because they're super competitive, and I'd hate to see them competing for the same position."

Zy will also admit that Scoop is able to do things on the basketball court that he simply can't. His younger brother was taller than he was as a middle-schooler, which showed the elder Dennis that he needed to find different ways to succeed.

"It got me a little when I saw him his eighth-grade year, his first varsity practice, when he went up there and dunked, I was like, 'I can't even do that yet, and I'm way older than him,'" Zy admitted. "It really pushed me to go harder in the weight room and go harder with what I do, but I just had to accept it at a point that he's a little bit more athletic than me."

PUSHING EACH OTHER

While Zy and Scoop are perfect complements on the same team, they're similar enough to go against each other in practice every day, no matter the sport. On the football field, they're both defensive backs on one side of the ball and receivers on offense, though Zy also spends time in the backfield as a do-it-all athlete. In basketball, they're typically guarding each other during every practice, making each other better.

"I think what really pushed us was practice because we went at each other every day," Zy said of their football careers. "He would be on offense; I would be on defense, (and) I think that really pushed us to be better in the game. If I can go against my brother and beat him, I can probably go against anybody who will go out against me."

Jabaar saw the same intensity as they were middle-schoolers. They each wanted their brother to be great, and they wanted to help him get there.

"When they were on the court together back then, it wasn't so much a competition, it was, 'I'm going to do this to you because it's going to make you better,'" Jabaar said. "In middle school, I was teaching them how to play a high-level man-to-man that they didn't really understand. But they're easy learners, so they picked up on it fast. Sometimes I would have them on two different teams in practice, and I would want Scoop to pick up his brother, I would want Zylen to pick him up, and then I would put them on the same team and see them talking to one another, and I would just let them go."

Patrick has coached them in both football and basketball and sees that same intensity in both arenas.

"They're going to bring that competitiveness they were just born with anywhere they go," Patrick said. "It doesn't matter who you are, they want a piece of you. That's just their mentality no matter where they're at."

The Dennis brothers put in a ton of work all year long as multi-sport athletes. Luckily, they have built-in workout partners every day.

"He pushed me as much as I push him. That's what I love about it, how we push each other to be great," Zy said. "His work ethic is amazing. He doesn't think anyone can stop him, and he knows if he puts the work in every day that nobody is going to be able to stand in front of him or do anything better.

The constant grind of being a multi-sport standout hasn't worn Scoop down. He wants to be a college athlete and won't let anything get in his way.

"I love getting a lot of work in," Scoop said. "I want to make it to the next level and just keep grinding and grinding and just push myself."

Zy and Scoop credit their parents for doing everything they can to help the dynamic duo succeed.

"Their support system has been amazing with everything they do for us (with) training sessions, my dad training with us and taking us places," Zy said. "It's been good."

SUCCESS THIS YEAR

The Dennis brothers want to make the most of this season in every sport. Zy knows this will be his last chance to play with his brother, so he doesn't want to leave anything on the table.

"I'm trying to live in the moment a bit because I know our days are getting shorter for us playing sports together," Zy said. "I love playing with him. I'm not ready to be done playing with him after this year. That's why we're really trying to go far this year to make it special."

Both Dennis brothers made a splash in the fall, thriving on both sides of the ball. Scoop caught 32 passes for 582 yards and six touchdowns. He added 29 tackles, a tackle for a loss, three interceptions and a defensive touchdown on the other side of the ball. He also returned 16 punts for 243 yards and another touchdown. Zy, meanwhile, did a little bit of everything. He caught 25 passes for 223 yards and three touchdowns while adding another 271 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. He had 21.5 tackles, three pass breakups, two interceptions and a defensive touchdown. He also returned three kicks for 123 yards and a score. Both brothers were first-team all-state.

The basketball season is young, but the Swampcats are already putting together a special season. LMA is out to a 7-1 start and has earned narrow victories over two of the top teams in SCISA, Heathwood Hall and Ben Lippen. The Dennis brothers have been at the center of it all. Scoop is the team's top offensive weapon alongside Wes Lyles and Charlie Duvall, while Zy keeps everything moving like a well-oiled machine. Like Zy and Scoop, everyone on the team has their role and is slotting perfectly into place.

"They all know what their role is, and we talk about those roles all the time. Not everybody is going to be the guy scoring 20 points a game; everybody has a different role on the team," Patrick said. "Zy is a senior point guard, and he knows what his job is, and sometimes that means he isn't going to put up 15 or 20 points, he's going to get 15 assists, get after you on defense and control the tempo for us. And we ask a little differently of Scoop. But they both do their job and do it well."

Will has watched the Dennis brothers continue to grow through the last two years. He's not surprised by their success in the slightest.

"I don't want to sound arrogant, but it's no shock. It was obvious what they had the potential to become when I first met them," Will said. "As a coach, part of what you love is being a part of someone's development. It's a blessing to a coach to be able to experience it and be a part of it. It's neat when you see kids figure it out. They're in a season now where they're on a very talented team and they have high goals and expectations, and I look forward to keeping up with them."

Now Zy is one of six Swampcat seniors who all want to go out with a bang.

"I've seen that from the whole team. They want to send the seniors out the right way, and they want to have the best season they can have," Patrick said. "They've really been locked in every single practice and have had the mindset that they don't want to waste a day. They've played every game like it's going to be their last."

That mentality hits a little differently for Scoop and Zy. The two have played together in every sport for their entire lives. The idea of not sharing a court or field next year is daunting, so they're soaking it all in.

"It's taking a toll on me. It's really taking a toll that I won't be able to play with him anymore because I've been playing with him my whole life," Zy said. "Me not being on the field or on the court with him is really going to hurt a little bit."

Scoop doesn't love the idea of suiting up without his brother next year, though he'll have their younger brother AJ along for the ride.

"It's going to be kinda hard, but I'm just going to have to keep going not having him with me," Scoop said. "I wish he could still (play with me) the rest of my life."

No matter what comes next for the Dennis brothers, their coaches know they'll be successful. That's just the way they're built.

"They're scholars, and they're good kids. Regardless of them playing sports, they're going to be successful in life, and that's the goal," Jabaar said. "I'm just humbled and thankful to God that He allowed my level of influence in their lives to put them to the level of success they're at now."