Pop quiz. What do Chad Pennington, Peyton Manning, Danny Wuerrfel, Bobby Hoying and Brandon Roberts all have in common? If you said ‘They’ve all started NFL games at quarterback,” you’d be wrong. But that’s only because Brandon Roberts is still a senior here at Washington University… not to mention he’s a linebacker-one of the finest middle linebackers to ever walk the Hilltop.
Roberts is also a biomedical engineer with a 3.6 GPA and a boatload of pending medical school applications. So what do those NFL jocks and this pre-med braniac have in common?
The answer?
They have all been recipients of the HealthSouth Draddy award, which is given annually to the nation’s top scholar-athlete in collegiate football. It is often referred to as the “Academic Heisman,” and with good reason. The award’s criteria are 40 percent athletic, 40 percent academic and 20 percent community service and leadership. Along with the award comes a $25,000 fellowship for post-graduate study and recognition among the nation’s football elite.
Indeed, alongside Roberts at the head table of the star-studded, Dec. 10 award ceremony held in New York’s Waldorf-Astoria were Paul Tagliabue, Bud Selig, George Steinbrenner, Dan Marino, Ronnie Lott, Reggie White and Kellen Winslow-to name a few.
Fourteen collegiate football athletes were invited to the ceremony. Each of them was guaranteed to take home at least $18,000 in award money, but only one player’s name was called out to win the Draddy award.
When Roberts was announced as the winner, he was cool and calm as usual. Although he had no speech prepared, and he stood in front of a veritable “Who’s Who” of NFL personalities, he delivered.
And much like his football game, his speech was quick and hard-hitting.
“I thanked Washington University and my head Coach Larry Kindbom for providing me the opportunity to grow academically and athletically,” said Roberts. “That’s really all I remember. I don’t think it was much more than a few minutes.”
And although the room was full of top-notch Division I football coaches, including Ohio State’s Jim Tressel, Tennessee’s Phillip Fulmer, and Georgia’s Mark Richt, Roberts prefers to quote his favorite football coaching legend-Vince Lombardi.
“Football is a lot like life in that it teaches us that hard work, sacrifice, perseverance, selflessness, and competitive drive are the price that we all must pay in order to achieve our goals.”
As if all the accolades weren’t enough, Roberts was further honored during the halftime show of the Dec. 31 Sun Bowl. The segment showed the portion of the banquet when Roberts accepted the award, followed by a piece that Roberts taped at CBS studios the morning following the banquet. The feature ended by showing three highlights from his playing career and a statement of his future goals.
Roberts is the first-ever non-Division I player to be honored with the Draddy award, meaning that his achievements had to stand out that much more than the competition’s.
And indeed they did.
Roberts tallied 338 career tackles and 12.5 career sacks. He was a two-time first-team all-UAA selection and led a Bears defense that ranked in the top 20 nationally in each of his first three seasons. On top of his academic and athletic endeavors, Roberts is an active member of the campus community and the St. Louis area.
Are you ready for this list?
Roberts is a member of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Harambee Christian Ministry, the Black Pre-Medicine Society, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Black Men Active in the Community, Big Brothers and Sisters of America, The Association of Black Students, Visions Gospel Choir, Vacation Bible School, Faith House and, oh yeah, the Wound Center back home at Akron General Hospital in Ohio.
His academic achievements include membership in the Golden-Boy International Society, the Ralph Bunche Scholar Award, the W.E.B. Du Bois Award and a position as a Chimes Junior Honorary Research Assistant.
All this from a football player that head coach Larry Kindbom says is, “the best Division III football player I’ve ever been around.” And Kindbom has seen a lot of players in his day (13 seasons at WU and 29 season overall in coaching), so that’s saying something.
A season-ending knee injury in week six of the 2002 season cut Roberts’ magnificent career at WU short, but perhaps his injured knee was all part of a bigger plan.
“I can remember being a little down trying to accept the possibility that 10 years of competitive football had probably come to an end,” said Roberts. “I remember [coach Kindbom] restating something that I really needed to hear at that time: ‘God never allows anything to happen to us that he knows we are unable to bear.’ I have always believed and lived by that statement which I think is the foundation for my perspective on life.”
Football taught Roberts perseverance, and it taught him about hard work. And now football is over. As his knee heals up, Roberts will graduate this May, and then he’ll get into a great medical school. Long after his knee is fully healed, he’ll become a successful doctor.
And, along the way, he’ll never face a challenge that he is unable to bear.