Seahawks 2020 draft: 5 things you may not know about Jordyn Brooks
By Lee Vowell
Strengths and Brooks as a Seahawks teammate
12th Man Rising: What kind of teammate do you think he was and how do you think he will transition off the field to the pros?
Matthew Connor: He was without question the heart and soul of the Red Raiders last year. He’s a lead by example kind of guy who doesn’t say just a ton, especially in public, but who the other players looked up to and whose example they followed. Remember, last year was the first year of Matt Wells’ time as head coach and the seniors could have left or been bitter after Kliff Kingsbury was fired.
But Wells has repeatedly praised Brooks for buying in and being the leader that helped the program transition through the coaching change. There’s no question that he will be one of the hardest-working players on the Seattle roster and he is a true leader of men. While at Texas Tech, he was the model citizen and those inside the program that saw him on a daily basis couldn’t say enough about his character.
12th Man Rising: What are some of the strengths that should help him help the Seahawks?
Matthew Connor: If you let Brooks play downhill and attack the football, he’s at his best. He has an uncanny knack for finding the football and making game-changing plays. He is most effective when playing in the middle of the formation and right now, stopping the run is his best trait, something that should be very useful in the NFC West with San Francisco and Los Angeles both deploying strong rushing attacks. He also developed into a surprisingly effective blitzer this past season.
Prior to that, he was playing in a more passive defensive scheme that didn’t send him after the QB much but with the coaching change, he was turned loose and the results were fantastic. Brooks had 20 tackles for loss this season and I don’t remember ever seeing a middle LB spend as much time in the backfield as he did in 2019. He’s a disruptive player when allowed to attack and that should translate to the NFL.