SE: Q&A with Former K-State OL, Current TV Analyst Barrett Brooks

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Former Kansas State All-American left tackle Barrett Brooks, who literally spent a summer as a laborer in helping to construct the K-State press box prior to the 1993 season, returns to Manhattan for the first time in more than a decade on Saturday.

A mainstay personality at NBC Sports Philadelphia for the past six years, Brooks has also spent the past three college football seasons as color analyst on ESPN+ telecasts, and will be on hand alongside Shawn Kenney (play-by-play) and Shane Sparks (sidelines) to call Saturday's 1 p.m. kickoff against Nevada at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

Brooks, a former 12-year NFL veteran and member of the Pittsburgh Steelers' Super Bowl XL team, spoke with D. Scott Fritchen of K-State Sports Extra about his path from emerging as arguably the top left tackle in K-State history to emerging as a sports personality, and his goals and aspirations moving forward.

DSF: You came to K-State from Florissant McCluer North High School in St. Louis, Missouri. Can you describe your path to join the Wildcats?

BB: Coach Snyder gave me the opportunity to play football at Kansas State. I was actually going to play basketball, too, but at the time I was 6-foot-3, 245 pounds, and after some practices I decided I needed to stick with football. I had never been around anything like K-State before in my life. I was from inner-city St. Louis and things were totally different. It was an adjustment culturally but I grew accustomed to it. When it comes to weather, most people don't understand the extremes in Kansas, where the high temperatures can be 105 degrees in the summer and the lows can be minus-5 degrees in the winter. Reggie Blackwell and Elijah Alexander showed me around on my recruiting visit, and they took me under their wing when I arrived in Manhattan.

When I first arrived at K-State, we had three-hour practices before the NCAA instituted the 20-hour-per-week practice rule. We did a lot of work and a lot of practicing. Getting to the game was the easy part because we would have a break when the defense was on the field. We were going, going, going in practice.

Coach Snyder saved my life. I was so undisciplined and wanted to do what I wanted to do, and while growing up I had taken the easy way out a lot of the time. Coach taught me that anything worth having I had to work for, and he refused to let me take the easy way out. He stayed with me the entire time. Coach Snyder saw qualities in me that I didn't see in myself. He knew I could be a very good player and refused to let me go in the wrong direction. My summer job, I literally helped build the press box and the indoor practice facility. It felt good to literally help build it, and to help turn the K-State football program around, and make it one of the premier programs in college football. Over the course of my college career, I had transformed, too, going from 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds to 6-foot-5 and 325 pounds, and developing into an All-American and NFL draftee.

DSF: Just how meaningful was the 1993 Copper Bowl and helping K-State to win its first-ever bowl game?

BB: When I first came to Kansas State, the Wildcats had won one game in the previous five seasons. One game. One. My freshman year, we won five games and people around Manhattan acted like we had won the Super Bowl. But the bowl victory was the icing on the cake, the bow on the box for K-State and the greatest turnaround in the history of college football. And the success only continued. When I came to K-State, it was difficult to recruit but Coach Snyder persisted and the coaches began recruiting areas very hard, hitting places like south Florida and Texas. In the Big Eight, most people didn't hear much about schools like Kansas State and Iowa State. Most people heard about the other schools like Nebraska, Oklahoma and Colorado, but we were the unknowns. Once we put K-State on the map, people started wanting to come to Kansas State. It was amazing. We steadily improved. We were ranked in the Top 10 each of my last two years.

DSF: Who have been the most impactful coaches over your career?

BB: Coach Snyder is definitely the most impactful coach I've ever had in my life. I also have great respect for Coach Bill Cower. Then there's Coach Dana Dimel and Coach John Latina. Those men I mention are men who most influenced me as being a man, and men who have molded me, and have put me into a position to be successful. That's the best thing anybody can do for anyone. They put me into a position to succeed, and I've been fortunate because there have been many other people throughout my life who have put me into a position to succeed. But Coach Snyder is number one.

DSF: How would you describe the transition from K-State to NFL to the professional business world?

BB: I was fortunate to be drafted in the second round of the 1995 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles and ultimately played 12 years in the NFL, including stints with the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, and I spent my last four years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and was a part of the team that won Super Bowl XL. Over the course of my career, I understood that the NFL stood for "Not For Long," so I started to prepare myself for life after football. I went back to school, opened a nursing agency with my wife, and then earned a Master's degree in Healthcare Administration. When I retired from the NFL, I started selling synthetic turf fields. I wanted to be more involved with the game of football, but selling fields wasn't cutting it.

DSF: How did you become involved with radio and television?

BB: I went to Brian Baldinger, who served as an analyst for NFL Network and NFL Films. I told him I wanted to get involved, so I served as a producer for five years, and produced NFL Films productions called, "NFL Matchup," and "Playbook," between 2010-15 and won an Emmy. I also produced games inside the trucks for ESPN. I served on the crew for Todd Blackledge, who was on the No. 2 commentating team in the nation at the time. As I continued to produce, I spoke with Ron Jaworski, and he said that he wanted to put me on his show to offer my perspective as an offensive lineman. So I joined Ron on his radio show, and from his show, it began to spread, as more and more people wanted to hear what I had to say about football. I eventually signed with NBC Sports Philadelphia and have been here for the past six years. I have my own show, "The Middle," which is on YouTube, and I also serve as analyst on the weekends, like the K-State/Nevada game. I've been with ESPN+ for the past three years.

DSF: What will the feeling be like coming back to Manhattan and yet being unbiased when calling a football game at K-State?

BB: I'm really excited. I'm looking forward to coming back home and broadcasting for my team. I'm not going to be biased…but I might lean toward the Big 12 school. I'll have story after story to tell during the game about my experiences at K-State and how I literally helped build the press box and how I was at K-State when being at K-State wasn't cool. I understand how K-State started out and I understand what it's become. I like what Coach Chris Klieman is doing there. I really do. I can't wait to see the stadium and what it's become.

DSF: What are your aspirations moving forward?

BB: I want to get onto the big shows. I've been scratching and clawing and I used to do Sun Belt and Ivy League games, and now I'm working Big 12 games. From here, I hope to join the crews where I was producing. Todd Blackledge was the nation's No. 2 crew when I produced for him, and I want to get to what they call "the big truck." Right now, I have the "little truck." I want to get to where my telecasts have 20 cameras instead of five or eight cameras. I want access to all of the views on the football field. I just want to peak in this career the way I peaked in my K-State career and my NFL career. All of my life, I've had dreams that I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to play college football, then I wanted to get drafted, and I wanted to win a Super Bowl, and now I want to be on the big shows. I want to be on the big network shows. If you look at the pattern of the best, Tony Romo is one of the best, my good friend Michael Strahan is one of the best. If you can get to that level, you've made it.

Kansas State University Athletics

SE: Q&A with Former K-State OL, Current TV Analyst Barrett Brooks

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