September 20, 2002
| Junior offensive lineman Andre Brooks talked with AggieAthletics.com about the offensive line, being a leader, and his hope of one day getting his hands on the ball.
Has it been tough to get a rhythm going this year, with the injuries that the offensive line has sustained? "Yes. We went through spring ball and two-a-days together, and as an offensive line you start to gel together with the five you play with. When injuries come about, you have to put different guys in the mix, but we all know there's always going to be injuries. There's seven or eight guys that have to play during the course of the season, if injuries come up at any point or if anything happens. We try to come together as a team and as an offensive line, so we know our brother next to us is going to help us out regardless of who it is. We have confidence that the coaches have brought in the right people to be an asset to the team." Is offensive line a frustrating position to play sometimes, knowing that people don't know a whole lot about what's going on and are only going to see the bad things, and won't necessarily notice the good? "We try not to even listen to what outsiders say. We're a family within the team, and all we care about is what the coaches think and what the players think. We look at it like, 'How many of these guys have played pro ball?', and 'How many of these guys have been where we're at?', so we really don't take it to heart." Do you think of yourself as one of the leaders of the offensive line? "This will be my third year playing. I'm trying to be a leader, but right now we have two seniors [Billy Yates and Taylor Whitley], and seniors always will be the leaders of the team. If Billy or Taylor goes down, I just hope I can step up and be one of the leaders. Next season, I should be a leader." Have you ever gotten your hands on a live ball in a game? "Actually I have. Against McNeese State last year I picked up a fumble. I didn't run it any, I just fell on it, and then I almost had another one in the same game. But, other than that, no." When you see films of O-linemen in college or the NFL picking up a ball and running with it, do you hope you get a crack at that one of these days? "Yeah. That's every offensive lineman's dream, to pick the ball up, run 5 or 10 yards, and dive in the end zone. Every offensive lineman has those aspirations."
Do you guys talk a lot of trash on the offensive line? "There's a lot of trash talking up there. Mostly it's the defensive players, like the little DBs and stuff, the DBs and the linebackers. On the line we talk trash, but most of us are huffing and puffing during the game anyway, so as the game goes on the trash talking on the line starts to simmer down until right before the end of the game." So the fact that you're about twice those DB's size doesn't deter them from running their mouths? "Yeah, they're long-winded. Us big guys, our wind starts to go as the game goes on, so the trash talking slows down until the end of the game." You had some success in little league baseball...tell me about that. "When I was 12, in 1994, we won the state championship and went to St. Petersburg, Florida. We ended up losing a game or two before the championship to go to the Little League World Series." What position did you play? "I played pitcher and first base, batted cleanup. It's one of my favorite moments in my life." What does Andre Brooks do with his free time when he gets it? "I usually just sit at my house, play video games and watch TV, or go over to friends' houses." Do you have a Playstation 2 at home? "Oh yeah. I got the NCAA '03 and the Madden '03." I guess it's hard to play as yourself on the game, being an offensive lineman. But do you boost up your speed and all that? "Yeah. Boost yourself up and give yourself a lot of power, but other than that [as an offensive lineman] you really can't do anything. It's not like you're a defensive player or a running back or a wide receiver or anything like that." |