Oct. 16, 2014 RUSTON, La. - At first glance, those who love to watch the game of football may view it in terms of helmets and shoulder pads. It would be easy to overlook the stories behind the facemasks; that each player has traveled his own winding road to reach a destination.
DeAngelo Brooks is a senior defensive tackle for Louisiana Tech. At 6-feet, 300 pounds, he clogs up holes in the trenches with the best of them. That is what Brooks' responsibility is each Saturday during the fall for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.
What people may not know about Brooks is that he is a devout family man and an accomplished wrestler. It is the balance in his life that has allowed him to achieve athletically. However, it wasn't always easy.
The child of Clarence and Yolanda Taylor, Brooks grew up in a family that always supported him and did whatever they could to help him. Deemed the football star from birth, Brooks has done everything in his athletic career to prove his family right.
"They will bend over backwards to help me through anything I need," Brooks said. "They are where I get all my drive from."
"My mother always tells me the story about when I was born," Brooks said. "My grandfather was the one who named me, and right when he saw me he said that I was going to be a football star."
Brooks was not eligible to play his senior year at Airline High School in Bossier, La., due to his age. He could have just quit, but he persevered. Instead, he used his surroundings as motivation to make something better of himself.
"Where I come from people just do not make it," Brooks said. "I kept the mindset of keep pushing and do not quit."
Brooks was a student coach for the Vikings during his senior year, but it did not quite satisfy his desire to play the game.
"It was definitely not the same," Brooks said. "After every single loss that our team had, I wished I could be out there with them through the blood, sweat and tears. It was hard, but I knew that I was giving back to them by passing on what I had learned through the years."
In the time Brooks could not be on the football field, you could find him on the mats. Airline wrestling coach Josh Burton convinced him to try his hand at wrestling, although Brooks was hesitant. When he finally did, Brooks found that wrestling helped with more than just his athletic ability; it built character.
"He was one of our good defensive linemen coming in with the freshmen," Burton said. "I kind of made him get out there because we did not have a heavyweight."
Brooks did not know what to expect when he agreed to join the wrestling team.
"Coach Burton didn't tell me how hard it was with all the conditioning," Brooks said. "At first I was losing matches, but every day I was out there pushing myself. It finally paid off."
The same year Brooks started competing in wrestling, he advanced to the Louisiana state championship and won. The second year Brooks came back and went undefeated, repeating as a state champion in his weight class.
"He was horrible at first but in a month's time he went from awful to winning state. It was unbelievable," Burton said.
There are many similar aspects of football and wrestling that one needs to be good at in order to succeed. Brooks took some of those moves he learned in wrestling and implemented them into his defensive tackle game.
"His favorite move was the bear hug which you have to get lower than your opponent for it to work," Burton said. "When he was out there (competing) by himself, he really tested how far he could go before he was actually too tired to slow down."
"In wrestling it is all about leverage and that is what I bring when going up against offensive linemen," Brooks said. "Wrestling kept me in great shape for football. Football will always be my love and passion, but wrestling holds a special place in my heart. It also taught me about myself. When you are playing football it is a team sport, but when you are wrestling it is just you. That is where your character shows. You have to ask yourself how badly do you want to win and how much will you give up to do it."
That mindset has kept Brooks going through his senior year at Louisiana Tech.
"At first I kind of lost that mindset, but now I have it back," Brooks said. "I am thinking right, and I am ready to have a good senior year."
Burton was more than just a wrestling coach to Brooks. He was one his closest friends, and he was more like a second dad.
"Words cannot explain how I feel about him," Brooks said. "He has taught me so much that I did not know. I have great parents at home and a great big brother, but things that I did not learn at home, that man taught me."
Burton taught him the meaning of perseverance and how to look a man in the eye when you shake his hand and talk to him.
"It is what we try to teach all of our kids," Burton said. "A football team is like a family, and we try to teach all of our kids that."
"To this day, I am very blessed to have him in my life and I would not trade him for anything in the world," Brooks said.
Burton still comes to watch Brooks compete for the Bulldogs, and the senior said that following every game he receives a text message from Burton that tells him what he did right and what he needs to work on. He even came and supported Brooks two weekends ago when he was playing Burton's alma mater, Northwestern State - the place where Burton played college football.
Brooks attributes his plans after football to his high school experience and the influence of Burton on his life.
Brooks has no plans of letting his football dreams die after college; he plans to seize the opportunity to play in the NFL or CFL if it presents itself. But in the meantime, he wants to finish is LA Tech career strong.
"Most importantly, I want to be remembered for being a good (man) and never quitting," Brooks said.
A distinct possibility thanks to his experience with wrestling and the direction of his family as well as his life-long friend, Josh Burton.
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