When schools returned to face-to-face, Brooks says Jones lobbied for him to transfer to Duke, but South Carolina had already made him an offer with new coach Shane Beamer at the helm. We just all connected and were just grinding through that whole process.”

“I was just out there, just me and a whole bunch of NFL veterans as well that were out there. “He pretty much introduced me to a pro-style offense,” Brooks said of Jones. With North Carolina stay-at-home orders limiting groups to under 10 people, Brooks became one of the receivers who would join Jones and Boone at local parks around the area for socially-distanced throwing sessions.īrooks says things then started to click for him in a different way. QBC’s Anthony Boone, a former Duke quarterback, had based himself in Charlotte specifically to work with Giants passer and fellow Blue Devils alum Daniel Jones.

It was during that summer of displacement that he started working out with QB Country, a position-specific training and development company whose clients include Mac Jones, Gardner Minshew, Sam Howell, Cowboys backup Cooper Rush, and others. He says he spent an “extremely hard” summer commuting back and forth from Stephensville, Texas to his home in Charlotte- a 14- to 16-hour drive- as he waited for the world to return to normal. “I knew in order to get to that next level, I needed the ball more,” he said of the experience.īrooks transferred to Tarleton State in Texas… but then COVID-19 happened. But in the team’s RPO offense, the Bulldogs receivers were rarely more than decoys, and he realized his volume simply wouldn’t be increasing anytime soon. This time, he averaged 21.5 yards per catch. His sophomore year, he earned All-South Atlantic Conference honors in a 10-2 season. Over 12 game appearances as a freshman, he caught just 17 balls, but averaged a promising 17.5 yards per reception. “But it definitely had a lot of dark days.”Ĭatch some highlights from our newest WR 🙌 #CowboysDraft | The Draft: April 29īrooks started his college career at Wingate University in North Carolina, a tiny private school with just 2,600 students.

“It’s bright now,” the 22-year-old said of his future in an introductory conference call with Cowboys media after being drafted. The South Carolina wide receiver was the 244th overall pick (out of 259) in this weekend draft, the final selection made by the Cowboys in this year’s draft class.īut the truth is, it’s amazing he got the call at all. Just don’t expect anyone who knows Jalen Brooks to agree with that.

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