Brandon Hicks - Emerging From the Shadows
Saturday, September 11, 2010 | Football
By Corey Sobers, UF Communications
University of Florida senior linebacker Brandon Hicks is hungry. He hears the whispers about this year's revamped defense taking a step back with the departure of six starters from 2009, five of whom were taken in the first three rounds of the 2010 NFL Draft. He is aware of the doubters and naysayers that predict a drop-off from the linebacker unit he is leading. Nevertheless, he fully expects the latest edition of the Florida defense to be recognized as one of the top units in the nation and there is no hesitation in his voice when he states that the standard for the Gator defense will not change this season.
“I'm actually confident,” Hicks declared. “Every year, somebody leaves and somebody else steps up big. Once there are guys who are willing to step up, it doesn't matter who leaves. We're the Gator defense. We're going to be fast and we're going to fly around the ball.”
Getting to the ball carrier and producing big plays is something Hicks has shown he is adept at, even in limited playing time. As the 2009 season was winding down, the Jacksonville, Fla., native had the opportunity to show what he could do and he made his presence felt. Classmate A.J. Jones suffered a knee injury and Hicks was called upon to start the final three games of the year: an intense intrastate battle against rival Florida State, the SEC Championship Game versus eventual national champion Alabama and the Allstate Sugar Bowl against the Big East-champion Cincinnati Bearcats. In those three games, facing high-level competition, Hicks totaled 19 tackles, four tackles-for-loss, three sacks and a forced fumble.
Coming into the 2010 campaign, the SEC media took notice. At the annual SEC Media Days in Hoover, Ala., he was named First-Team All-SEC by league media. While Hicks is proud of the recognition he earned, he remains hungry. The attention is appreciated but he realizes he must remain focused.
“The recognition means a lot. When I came to college—I even had this posted over my bed in my dorm room—I wanted the world to know my name. After we went to the National Championship game in 2008, I got away from that mentality going into my junior year. When I had that mind-set, I was working for my teammates, family and the fans. I realize that my mind-set has to change from being a follower to being a leader. I want to lead by example and show the younger guys the right way to do things. “
While he is eager to make his name a household one, his primary goal remains leading the team to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game and that one goal motivates him for his final season donning the Orange and Blue. Hicks believes that he will be a major part of the team's success and University of Florida head coach Urban Meyer is certainly a believer.
“He's exactly what you go recruit, a 225-pound linebacker who can run like the wind,” Meyer said. “Brandon Hicks is one of our star players right now. Full-speed, full-tempo, that's all that kid knows how to do. Get a bunch of guys like Brandon Hicks and you're playing some great defense or great special teams.”
Aside from his productivity on the field, the Gator linebacker has also gained a more prominent role as a team leader. However, this is a position he has been in before and plans on continuing during his future endeavors.
When Hicks was in high school playing for Jacksonville-based Nathan Bedford Forrest, he led by example. The Forrest standout was a two-way player and was willing to do whatever the coaches asked him to do in order to help the team succeed.
“I played everything,” Hicks recalled. “Linebacker, wide receiver, safety, defensive end, third-string quarterback, tight end. Whatever the opponent's weakness was where I played and I did whatever I could to help the team.”
After being named the 2006 Times-Union Super 24 Player of the Year and earning a spot on the Times-Union All-First Coast team after tallying 40 tackles, nine sacks and three interceptions as a senior, he had many of the top programs in the country interested in him. Scholarship offers arrived from traditional powers Nebraska, LSU and Clemson and he was the first player in Forrest history to receive offers from the three major football programs in the Sunshine State—Florida, Florida State and Miami.
In the end, the decision came down to Florida or Miami. “My family and I talked about it, prayed about it and it went back and forth for a long time,” Hicks said. “At one point, I was thinking it was going to be Miami, but everything about Florida seemed right. Florida felt good. It felt like a family-oriented place and family is the biggest thing besides God to me. If you keep that camaraderie within your family, you feel like nothing can go wrong.”
Meyer speaks glowingly of Hicks now, but there was a time when the linebacker was struggling mightily. During his freshman year, Hicks admitted that he was surprised by the adjustment from high school to college.
“He was actually floundering for a little while and had a hard time grasping the defense,” Meyer remembered. Hicks agreed with his coach's assessment. “I remember thinking, 'Wow, everything is moving so fast!' I don't know how I'm going to remember these plays. I don't even know which man to cover and we were playing man coverage,” Hicks recalled with a laugh.
Over time, Hicks began to catch on and worked his way up to the position he holds now through an often overlooked unit that Meyer emphasizes heavily—special teams. He began on the kickoff team, but it was not long before he added the kickoff return, punt and punt block units to his list of responsibilities.
“The motto here at Florida is that if you play special teams, the coaches will find a place on the field for you. It came to pass like the coaches said it would. The more I played special teams, the more chances I had to play defense. “
In the season opener against Hawaii in 2008, Hicks was involved in 19 special teams' plays that were the equivalent of almost nine football fields worth of sprints. Making the feat more impressive was that the game began at 12:30 p.m. in 88-degree weather.
“I looked at Hicks on the sideline and he was completely exhausted. He ran 19 special teams' plays for 895 yards,” Meyer marveled. “In that heat? Think about that for a minute.”
That kind of effort serves as an example of how Hicks was willing to do whatever it took to help the team even in situations that were not glamorous, and it earned him playing time on defense immediately afterward. He would start six games that year, including the BCS National Championship Game against Oklahoma, where he sacked Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Sam Bradford for a 14-yard loss on the Sooners' first series, setting the tone for a stifling defensive effort in which one of the most explosive offenses in the history of college football was held to 14 points, as the Gators took home the 2008 National Championship.
After a solid junior campaign and receiving several preseason accolades entering his final season, the senior linebacker credits his grandmother for his work ethic and resiliency.
“She's a great influence on me and a motivator to keep going and do all I can,” Hicks said. “She always told me that if my heart is beating, then I should never stop or quit. I always loved and respected that.”
That lesson resonates with him, but he does not keep what he has learned to himself. In the future, Hicks aspires to be a motivational speaker who impacts the lives of youth.
“I want to be a mentor to kids, point them in the right direction and help them be better people in any way I can,” Hicks declared. “I want to benefit our future, the world's future. I talk at a lot of elementary schools and middle schools and when I go home to Jacksonville, I go to my high school and I talk to our football team. I tell them that I was in their shoes not too long ago and as long as they work hard and do what they are supposed to, they'll be alright.”
While he will continue to make a difference in the community, he is focused on leading the Gators through the difficult SEC schedule in hopes of making a return trip to Atlanta. “I am just trying to go out there every day and work hard, get better and try to be the best on this defense,” Hicks explained of his mindset coming into the season. “I need to lead everyone to a victory and do what I am supposed to do.”
