The football field is full of guys who were all-everythings in high school. Still, just trusting your eyes, Chris Brooks is one of the first ones you'd pick.
BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Saturday, April 12, 2008 7:00 pm
The football field is full of guys who were all-everythings in high school. Still, just trusting your eyes, Chris Brooks is one of the first ones you’d pick.
No doubt about it. No. 1 looks good. Looks like a player. Looks like a guy who should be catching passes in the corner of end zones under the lights and a screaming crowd.
The Husker junior receiver is 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, and he looks like a guy recruiting analysts would love. They did. He didn’t ask for the stars, but they put four next to his name anyway.
Coaches saw the talent, too. Florida, Illinois, Missouri — Brooks turned them all down to come to Nebraska.
By that point, he really couldn’t come to Lincoln alone. Heavy expectations were along for the ride.
“I mean, it was hard,” Brooks said. “But I found out real fast I was a little fish in a big pond. And I think it was a great opportunity. And if I had a chance to do it all over again, I’d do the same thing.”
He’s been a Husker through three football seasons now, having redshirted in 2006. He’s played in five games and has one catch for 4 yards. It came against Nevada, the only game he played in last fall.
It’s not exactly what Brooks envisioned coming out of Hazelwood East High School in St. Louis, Mo., but he isn’t about to sulk about it. He learned a few things about the game and himself during those years. The way he sees it, his chance to shine is staring him in the face.
Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson and receivers coach Ted Gilmore keep the encouragement coming.
“It’s been a growing experience, but Coach Gilmore and Coach Watson have steered me in the right way, preparing me for my time,” Brooks said. “This is my time right now. That’s something that they instill, ‘It’s your time now.’”
Last year, there were seniors like Maurice Purify, Terrence Nunn, Frantz Hardy.
With those guys gone, the Huskers need new names to emerge — opportunity knocking loudly for Brooks, Menelik Holt, Niles Paul, Curenski Gilleylen, Will Henry.
“We all look at it as it’s our time,” Brooks said. “We have to step up. We have to fill a lot of shoes and we’re going to fill them.”
Brooks was dominating in the prep ranks. He was an all-city player his last three years. He had 66 catches for 1,200 yards and 14 touchdowns his senior season.
He was viewed as one of the best receivers in the 2005 national recruiting class, a huge addition to Bill Callahan’s West Coast offense.
The offense was new to Nebraska. Imaginations were running at full speed. A touted playmaker like Brooks could maybe star as the new kind of Husker receiver. How does a teenager not help but get swept up in all the excitement? “You kind of think like, ‘Yeah, I can be that guy,’” Brooks said.
But just getting on the field proved to be a struggle. There were frustrating days, sure, but nothing that Brooks doesn’t now view as a worthwhile lesson.
Above all, he found out he’d have to improve his work ethic to make something happen at this level.
“Coach Gilmore always says to look at yourself in the mirror, and if you really think that you have the opportunity to get out there, show them,” Brooks said. “I have to admit that early on in my career I wasn’t practicing how I should be practicing.
“And Coach Gilmore, he sat me down, he told me things I need to do and I’m trying to do them. I’m trying to perfect my craft and just go full-speed every play and make it the best that I can.”
Husker coach Bo Pelini said he’s seen progress from the receiver, though still cautioning that Brooks has some things to learn.
“I think he’s taking to the coaching,” Pelini said. “He shows some ability and explosiveness, enough to be in the offense and fit. I think he can be a player for us.”
Brooks said it’s tough to have any sense of a depth chart at the receiver position right now. Guys are being used in many different situations.
“A lot of guys are getting looks, an opportunity,” Brooks said. “It’s been real competitive and it’s all you can ask for.”
A smile comes across his face when the conversation turns to what the potential of the offense with senior Joe Ganz at quarterback.
There’s a confidence not just in Ganz but also what this receiving corps can do.
“We still have a long ways to go, but with Joe, he’s our guy,” Brooks said. “We lean on him for support, for him to make plays for us. But if he throws the ball to the moon, we’re trying to go get it.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at bchristopherson@journalstar.com or 473-7439.