Oklahoma LB to Visit Pac-10 Schools

By Hod Rabino
Posted Aug 30, 2010

Kentrell Brothers may not be getting much recruiting interest from his home state schools, but colleges from coast to coast have pursued the Guthrie, Okla. linebacker in earnest. Brothers will begin his official visit circuit this week in Tempe and talked to Devils Digest about his recruitment with the maroon and gold. 

“I (unofficially) visited Arizona State a couple of months ago,” said the 6-1 215 Kentrell Brothers. “I was actually visiting the University of Arizona that week and since we were going past Arizona State on the way (to Tucson) we thought about visiting Arizona State. I didn’t know much about them but once we got there it turned out to be a very good trip. I was hoping to be offered on the visit and they did. We have been in contact ever since.

 “I liked how close coach Trent Bray, who is recruiting me, is close to his players. I believe that the way a coach treats you on the field is the way a coach will treat you all the time. The campus was amazing and I really didn’t expect it to be that nice. The dorms were beautiful. It was a little hot but that’s what the swimming pool if for (laughs)…it was a good trip.”

Brothers will officially visit Washington on September 10th (he also visited Seattle unofficially), and while he does expect right now to take all five visits, he doesn’t know which three remaining schools he will trip to. Other schools that have offered him are Arizona, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, Tulsa, Baylor, Connecticut, Duke, Syracuse and Vanderbilt. With an array of offers spanning various time zones Brothers indicated that distance from home won’t dictate his decision.

“I know that wherever I go to play my family will be supporting me,” he said.

The linebacker admitted to be “surprised and disappointed” that both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State aren’t among the dozen or so schools to already offer him. “It does fire me up,” Brothers remarked, “to show them what they missed out on once I get to college.”

The Guthrie High School star plays on both sides of the ball, and as a junior he earned second team All-State honors with 95 tackles, 17 sacks, four interceptions, and a fumble recovery. On offense he had 62 catches for 1,122 yards and 12 touchdowns. He benches 250 lbs. and is being recruited as a WILL linebacker by ASU.

“I have good knowledge of the game, knowing what the offense will do,” Brothers said of his skills. “All of my coaches at my high school have a done a good job teaching me what techniques to use to recognize alignments and what blocks will be coming my way. I also make big plays when needed.

“I do need to work on understanding the linebacker position better and all the different roles a linebacker has. But that’s something I will learn a lot once I get to college.”

The Guthrie Blue Jays were 8-5 last season and were eliminated in the semi-finals of the state championship. “We weren’t expected to make it that far,” Brothers confessed. “We surprised a lot of people then, but now when the polls come out we should be ranked #2 or #3. We return six players on defense and almost everybody on offense.”

Brothers values education a great deal and claimed that this will be the number one factor influencing his decision on which university he will attend.

“You always need a fallback plan and get your degree in case you don’t go and play in the NFL out of college,” Brothers said. “I also want to be around coaches that will be honest and make me a better player. I want to be on a team with players that don’t get into trouble and can also push me to be a better player.”