Where Are They Now: Jayson Brooks

Jayson Brooks graduated in 2008 from , where he played football for four years for the Indians. Though the Indians struggled for all four years of Brooks’ playing days, compiling four straight losing seasons, his passion for the game of football never died and was a key component in his college decision process. With three schools on his radar, Brooks ended up choosing Norwich University in Northfield, Vt., where he could continue to play offensive line.

Brooks has played three seasons on the offensive line for the Cadets and has helped Norwich improve on their records each and every year, including winning the ECFC Championship Game in 2009 over Mount Ida. During his time with the Cadets, Brooks has been part of a record setting performance (over 550 yards rushing in a game, thanks to the offensive line) and was honored as part of the offensive line unit as co-MVP of last season.

Brooks is finishing up his junior year at Norwich and is pursuing a major in communications and a minor in English, just in case he wants to pursue the idea of teaching one day. He owes a lot to his grandmother for raising him and a lot to offensive line coach Carl Mintken for his help on the field. In his free time, Brooks enjoys skiing, hanging with his friends and playing video games.

Favorite food: Steak. I love steak night during the week.

Favorite athletic team: Penn State

Favorite movie: V for Vendetta

Favorite athlete(s) or player(s): Sebastian Vollmer is my favorite offensive lineman, but my favorite players are Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady.

Favorite videogame(s): Madden and NBA2K

What have you been up to since you graduated from Grafton High School in 2008?

I’ve been at Norwich the last three years and I’ve been playing football, working hard, getting better and doing well in school.

How have the past few years of football gone for you at Norwich?

Freshmen year we didn’t do too well, we were 2-8, but we were in a pretty tough conference. We switched conferences my sophomore year and we actually won the conference and the whole thing, winning a championship game against Mount Ida, who we beat 49-14. We came into my junior season with a lot of expectations, we finished 8-3, but we didn’t win the conference. It didn’t end the way we wanted to, but we ended up getting a bowl game against Framingham State, but we lost in overtime to them.

What are your expectations for the team and you personally going into your senior season?

I expect that we’re not going to miss a beat, we lost a lot of players last year to graduation, but the way this program has been built, we shouldn’t miss anything as long as people continue to work hard in the offseason and remain educated.

Myself, I backed up right tackle last year, but this year I expect to step right into one of the tackle positions or really anywhere they need me on the offensive line. I’ve played every position except center, so it doesn’t bother me to move around. I expect to start, I’ve worked hard and it’s my time to step up and be a leader for this team.

I know that sometimes it is hard for a lineman to stay motivated sometimes because they may not get much recognition, but what keeps you motivated game-after-game?

It’s winning. We are the most important part of the offense, everything runs through us and if we don’t perform, we lose. We don’t get any credit, but we sure do get a lot of the blame. This year our team actually voted the entire offensive-line that played in games the co-MVP of the team this year, so that’s really gratifying for not me personally, but as a unit. We’re the closest-knit position group on the team because we have to be able to trust the person next to us as much as anything and that’s extremely important. It’s kind of that brotherhood that you don’t want to let the person next to you down, knowing how important your position is to the rest of the team, that’s what drives me.

What made you choose Norwich University in the first place and were you looking at any other schools to play football?

My top three schools were Norwich, Husson University and University of Maine. I wasn’t really going to play at UMaine and if I did it would be from walking on. That’s kind of hard to be going from Grafton to a D-IAA school. I really wanted to play football in college, I didn’t like the way my four years went at Grafton and I really wanted to continue to play because I loved the sport. When it came down to Norwich and Husson, I couldn’t decide. I actually ended up sending my deposit to Norwich like two days before it was due because they were very similar and I ended up choosing Norwich. I really liked some of the kids on the team that I had met and I got a really good feeling from head coach Shawn McIntyre that this was a good program and this is where I wanted to be. I absolutely love it here, I love the coaching staff and the guys that I play with, I would consider them my brothers; they’re my family.

Can you talk about your Grafton High School experience and if you had any favorite moments there on or off the field?

It was a tough four years winning-wise. I went 5-39 and my senior and sophomore years we went 0-11, but there were some good times. If I was miserable my whole four years I wouldn’t have kept playing. Some of my best memories were winning that game against Oxford my junior year, which broke a long losing streak for us on Homecoming, so that was pretty memorable. But it was mostly the guys I played with who are still guys I talk to today. It was probably the relationships I took away from it the most because winning wasn’t really there.

What are you looking to do once you graduate from Norwich?

My dream job is to be a broadcaster or an announcer. I’d love to stay in sports doing whatever, I think now I’m leaning more toward marketing and advertising and that kind of field, just because I’m kind of good at it and there are probably more job openings and money there. Eventually, I would like to think about teaching because I’m going to have a minor in English, so I can kind of have some credentials when I do try to make a move toward teaching. I just want to try to give myself as many options as I can.