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Brendel hopes to be a monster at UCLA
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@acnpapers.com
As sports continue to evolve, from the athletes competing to the rules and stipulations to which they play under, the same applies to the recruiting landscape.
It’s a realization Plano East senior Jacob Brendel took to heart a few months ago as the offensive lineman’s recruitment process began to pick up steam.
“The recruiting process is crazy,” Brendel said. “Ten years ago, nobody knew where they were going, but today you have to commit to make sure you have a spot at a certain college.”
The Bruins won out in the end, as Brendel’s verbal commitment to UCLA became known on Monday in the culmination of months of legwork and decision-making for the Panthers’ dual-purpose lineman.
“Jake is just an awesome player,” said Johnny Ringo, East head coach. “He can play both the offensive and defensive line, and I think that type of versatility really helped him with the college scouts.”
Brendel said the Bruins first popped onto his radar about five months ago during the offseason after he was visited by UCLA offensive line coach Bob Palcic. Amidst gaining an interest in the school’s football program, Palcic’s honesty also struck a chord with the lineman.
“We really hit it off because he was the same type of person I am,” Brendel said. “I’m not going to sugarcoat things; I’m going to shoot it to you straight, and that’s exactly what [Palcic] did. He said ‘if you’re interested in us, give me a call and if you’re not, you’re not and I’ll move on to the next person.’
“That really caught my eye … he just kind of gave me the facts and we went from there.”
Admitting communications with the Bruins hit a lull for a couple months, Brendel revisited things with UCLA after the school year ended via the NCAA-mandated one call policy, which set the wheels in motion for a West Coast recruiting trip one month ago.
“They shot it to me straight,” Brendel said. “They said they had two commits right now and had five spots, and we’d really like you to come out and see the campus. That was the next step.”
Brendel’s excursion west wasn’t just limited to UCLA though, as the lineman paid visits to California and Stanford as well. Weighing pros and cons, which ran the gamut from locality to being recruited as either an offensive or defensive lineman, UCLA won out in the end.
“The thing that really stood out with UCLA is that it’s not just college, it’s the rest of your life,” Brendel said. “They have many people just due to the situation that they’re in with not having a pro football team, they look at schools like UCLA and USC as their pro football teams.
“That really brings a lot of people to the games and money to the program. With those, there are a lot of opportunities that wouldn’t be there at another college.”
Just how Brendel got recruited was also a factor, as the lineman received some offers strictly to play defensive lineman. One example was Stanford, which Brendel said was actually his initial frontrunner. But the offer to just play on the defensive line caused the recent offensive line convert to look elsewhere.
“Stanford was pretty much my school,” Brendel said. “Their style of play, their location and everything; that was my mindset. But once I visited the campus, I guess you could say my dreams got crushed. They just didn’t live up to what I expected.”
The transition to the offensive line noted a benchmark moment in Brendel’s development, as he rose to prominence on the national level on defense as a sophomore when he was named a Super Sophomore by MaxPreps.
“The transition began with coach Ringo calling me into his office,” Brendel said. “He pretty much just said that I could play both, but felt I’d be playing offensive line in college due to my size.”
After what Brendel described as a “hard month” in getting acclimated to his new position, he upped his production and went on to be selected as a first team all-district center last season.
“Being a center, I had to know every position on the field,” Brendel said. “It took a toll on me and was tough, but it revealed boundaries I didn’t know I had.”
Those assets, alongside a leadership pedigree that will be put to use as one of the focal points of the East offense this season, are the cornerstones Brendel hopes to provide the Bruins following the summer of 2011.
A prospective business major, Brendel emphasized a relief in having put this process behind him before the season starts. And with the first chapter of his senior year on the horizon, Brendel said it means all the more attention can now be focused on his final few months of high school football.
“I want to get better,” Brendel said. “You never want to go backwards, but it’s not so much me. As a team, we have this thing called East One, which symbolizes the team as a whole.
“Last year we were all one team and I want to make sure that happens this year, to where the team aspect comes before the playing aspect because if we don’t trust each other, we won’t get very far.”
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