Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Big game indicative of Brooks' improvements
9/13/2017 5:00:00 PM | Football
Recently voted C-USA Player of the Week
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Through two games this season, Middle Tennessee has shown its defense has improved from 2016.
The Blue Raiders are currently giving up just 25.5 points and 337.5 yards per game, way down from the 35.8 points and 449.5 yards they surrendered in 13 games a season ago.
A big reason for MT's newfound effectiveness defensively is its experience at the linebacker position. The group didn't lose any players to graduation last season and includes two seniors and two juniors who've started in a linebacker spot at least seven times each for the Raiders.
But through two games, it's not one of the older, more experienced backers leading the group statistically. It's a redshirt sophomore who's only been playing the position for two seasons.
Khalil Brooks didn't come to Middle Tennessee as a linebacker. As a matter of fact, he didn't originally expect to come to Murfreesboro at all.
The Atlanta, Georgia, native verbally committed to Kent State University as a defensive back in the middle of his senior year at Benjamin E. Mays High School. However, he quickly flipped after taking a late visit to MT, and just a few weeks after playing for the Georgia 5A state title in December of 2014 he enrolled a semester early at Middle Tennessee.
"It was a really quick process," he said. "I had to change my mindset from being in high school to being in college quick. I just tried to adjust to my atmosphere and environment, and I think the team helped me a lot with that."
Being able to enroll in college a semester early was a testament to Brooks' academic prowess. He graduated in the top-10 percent of his class in high school with a 3.8 GPA, and he attended the Odyssey program held for gifted students in the Atlanta Public Schools system.
He's continued that studious mentality not only into his academic career at MT, but also on the field. It's his on-the-field smarts that may take him to his end goal.
Brooks is a leisure sport and tourism studies major emphasizing in sport management. He wants to turn his degree into a career in coaching someday.
"I think if he wanted to try and be a coach, he'd be a heck of a coach," Middle Tennessee head coach Rick Stockstill said. "He studies, he's conscientious, he pays attention and he gives great, constant effort."
Brooks' ability to play the linebacker position from a mental standpoint clearly wasn't the issue when he arrived in Murfreesboro. Nor were some of his physical traits, including good footwork, a solid catching ability and lightning speed (he was on Mays' state-champion 4x100 team as a junior) that he displayed as a defensive back.
It was Brooks' slim, 180-pound frame as a freshman that didn't quite fit the linebacker mold. However, that was nothing a redshirt season couldn't fix.
While redshirting in his first year on campus, Brooks put on more than 20 pounds of muscle and became one of the strongest pound-for-pound players on the team. He tied for eighth overall and second among linebackers in this spring's 1,000-Pound Club competition as a result.
"He's a good athlete and he's got great feet, but the thing about Khalil that a lot of people don't understand is he's one of the strongest kids pound-for-pound on the team," MT first-year defensive coordinator Scott Shafer said. "He's got a physical trait that's fits well at outside linebacker for us."
Using the skillset that he developed as a defensive back for several years, plus a new linebacker's frame, Brooks started turning heads as the 2016 season went along. He played in all 13 games and finished the year ranked 11th on the team with 38 tackles to go along with four pass breakups.
Brooks continued to improve over the offseason as the defense began learning under Shafer and new linebackers coach Siriki Diabate for the first time. The new system seemed to fit Brooks' skills right away, and he quickly rose up the depth chart into his first start against Vanderbilt in the season opener.
"It's a fun defense," Brooks said. "Coach Shafer lets you have fun with it, but you have to do what you have to do at the same time and stay disciplined. There's a lot of pressures, and I like blitzing the quarterback … it definitely fits my game"
He turned his first start into a solid outing, tying a career high with five tackles. But, it was a week later when Brooks proved his hard work was paying off.
Against Syracuse in Week 2, he set career highs with eight tackles, 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss, leading the team in each category. He was then named Conference USA's Defensive Player of the Week.
It's the type of breakout performance Brooks has been waiting for since moving to linebacker. However, being just the second game of the season, there is still plenty of time to grow and get even better in his new role.
He just has to keep working every day to be better than the last, which hasn't changed no matter where Brooks lines up on the field.
"Just going in and focusing day-by-day – that's the only way you can be ready for the game, and that's the only way I know how to prepare," he said.
The Blue Raiders are currently giving up just 25.5 points and 337.5 yards per game, way down from the 35.8 points and 449.5 yards they surrendered in 13 games a season ago.
A big reason for MT's newfound effectiveness defensively is its experience at the linebacker position. The group didn't lose any players to graduation last season and includes two seniors and two juniors who've started in a linebacker spot at least seven times each for the Raiders.
But through two games, it's not one of the older, more experienced backers leading the group statistically. It's a redshirt sophomore who's only been playing the position for two seasons.
Khalil Brooks didn't come to Middle Tennessee as a linebacker. As a matter of fact, he didn't originally expect to come to Murfreesboro at all.
The Atlanta, Georgia, native verbally committed to Kent State University as a defensive back in the middle of his senior year at Benjamin E. Mays High School. However, he quickly flipped after taking a late visit to MT, and just a few weeks after playing for the Georgia 5A state title in December of 2014 he enrolled a semester early at Middle Tennessee.
"It was a really quick process," he said. "I had to change my mindset from being in high school to being in college quick. I just tried to adjust to my atmosphere and environment, and I think the team helped me a lot with that."
Being able to enroll in college a semester early was a testament to Brooks' academic prowess. He graduated in the top-10 percent of his class in high school with a 3.8 GPA, and he attended the Odyssey program held for gifted students in the Atlanta Public Schools system.
He's continued that studious mentality not only into his academic career at MT, but also on the field. It's his on-the-field smarts that may take him to his end goal.
Brooks is a leisure sport and tourism studies major emphasizing in sport management. He wants to turn his degree into a career in coaching someday.
"I think if he wanted to try and be a coach, he'd be a heck of a coach," Middle Tennessee head coach Rick Stockstill said. "He studies, he's conscientious, he pays attention and he gives great, constant effort."
Brooks' ability to play the linebacker position from a mental standpoint clearly wasn't the issue when he arrived in Murfreesboro. Nor were some of his physical traits, including good footwork, a solid catching ability and lightning speed (he was on Mays' state-champion 4x100 team as a junior) that he displayed as a defensive back.
It was Brooks' slim, 180-pound frame as a freshman that didn't quite fit the linebacker mold. However, that was nothing a redshirt season couldn't fix.
While redshirting in his first year on campus, Brooks put on more than 20 pounds of muscle and became one of the strongest pound-for-pound players on the team. He tied for eighth overall and second among linebackers in this spring's 1,000-Pound Club competition as a result.
"He's a good athlete and he's got great feet, but the thing about Khalil that a lot of people don't understand is he's one of the strongest kids pound-for-pound on the team," MT first-year defensive coordinator Scott Shafer said. "He's got a physical trait that's fits well at outside linebacker for us."
Using the skillset that he developed as a defensive back for several years, plus a new linebacker's frame, Brooks started turning heads as the 2016 season went along. He played in all 13 games and finished the year ranked 11th on the team with 38 tackles to go along with four pass breakups.
Brooks continued to improve over the offseason as the defense began learning under Shafer and new linebackers coach Siriki Diabate for the first time. The new system seemed to fit Brooks' skills right away, and he quickly rose up the depth chart into his first start against Vanderbilt in the season opener.
"It's a fun defense," Brooks said. "Coach Shafer lets you have fun with it, but you have to do what you have to do at the same time and stay disciplined. There's a lot of pressures, and I like blitzing the quarterback … it definitely fits my game"
He turned his first start into a solid outing, tying a career high with five tackles. But, it was a week later when Brooks proved his hard work was paying off.
Against Syracuse in Week 2, he set career highs with eight tackles, 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss, leading the team in each category. He was then named Conference USA's Defensive Player of the Week.
It's the type of breakout performance Brooks has been waiting for since moving to linebacker. However, being just the second game of the season, there is still plenty of time to grow and get even better in his new role.
He just has to keep working every day to be better than the last, which hasn't changed no matter where Brooks lines up on the field.
"Just going in and focusing day-by-day – that's the only way you can be ready for the game, and that's the only way I know how to prepare," he said.
Players Mentioned
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