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Malik Jefferson: The Man Behind the Defensive Showman
He lives in a 9-by-12 bedroom in the San Jacinto dormitory on the University of Texas at Austin campus, as many freshmen do.
The bed is neatly made with a plain navy blue comforter, white sheets and a plush UT blanket folded at the foot of the bed. The floor is spotless. An iPhone charges on his night stand next to a lava lamp and a book. A television hums on low volume in the background. There is a comfortable black couch for the occasional visitor. Clothes are folded neatly in drawers or hung in the closet.
It’s a Monday night and the 19-year-old freshman is sitting alone in his room after declining an invitation to go out with friends. His mom calls him, and they talk about a trip home for her birthday, and maybe they will go bowling. They laugh with each other on the phone. It’s the second time they have spoken today. He makes sure he is ready for his exam the next day. He tries to relax.
Tomorrow his alarm will go off at 4:45 a.m. to roust his 6-foot-2 inch, 222-pound frame out of bed before sunrise so that he can practice slamming some of his best friends to the ground. This seemingly ordinary freshman is five-star recruit and UT’s star outside linebacker Malik Jefferson.
In 2014, Jefferson won the Butkus Award, awarded to the best linebacker in high school football. Jefferson was regarded as the No. 1 linebacker prospect in the country during his recruitment.
Jefferson got offers from every major program in the country, but on Dec. 19, 2014 the Mesquite, Texas native committed to play football for Texas.
In his first year playing for Texas, the Poteet High School graduate finished the season second overall in tackles. Sixty-one total tackles and 2.5 sacks.
But the monster the college football world sees on the field is tame off the field. Jefferson would rather hang out in his single dorm room and watch some television when he gets a break from football.
“It’s so important to relax,” Jefferson said. “I love to socialize, but I also love to just be in my room and have some time to myself.”
Jefferson tries not to watch sports in his off time. He loves to watch shows like “Chopped” on the Food Network. His most recent read was “Forty Million Dollar Slaves” by William Rhoden, a book about the rise and fall of black athletes. He does his best to attend bible study sessions set up for UT athletes as much as possible. He even meditates from time to time. And, his hot pink lava lamp is almost always on and glowing on his nightstand.
Jefferson’s homebody habits began far before he stepped foot on the University of Texas campus. His mom, Teresa Jefferson, says Jefferson has always liked the idea of being at home. Jefferson and his two older brothers made themselves a “man cave” to hang out in when they were not playing sports or in church. His mother says Jefferson never gave her cause for concern.
“We didn't have to get him from parties. We never had to put out a search warrant or call to threaten him,” the mother of three said. “Malik was always in that man cave. When he got together with friends, they always came to our house. If he ever went out, he was back in two hours.”
Teresa Jefferson and her husband Michael played a very active role in their children’s lives. All three Jefferson boys were not allowed to make grades below Bs. If one of Jefferson’s grades fell below a B, his father would keep him from football until his grades improved.
As the youngest of three boys, Malik constantly looked to his older brothers Michael Jr. and Tarik for guidance and knowledge. Jefferson says his sense of maturity comes from being around older kids. He gained strength by having to play football against boys twice his size. Michael Jr. and Tarik made sure that their little brother knew that being born later did not mean he could take the easy way out.
Teresa Jefferson describes her son as a servant. She says Jefferson loved to volunteer and feed the homeless. The happiest she has ever seen him is when he volunteered at the Special Olympics.
“Malik knows the world is about far more than himself,” Jefferson’s mom said. “That’s why when he is in the middle of a storm, he can still smile. If he isn’t smiling, then you’ve got yourself a problem.”
But his mom also knows her son can knock you down to the ground with the force of a freight train.
Teresa Jefferson says people who get to meet Jefferson before they see him play constantly say ‘I thought he was softhearted?’ But the Jefferson they see with a helmet and a jersey on is a completely different human.
Most players have pre-game rituals, which include blasting pump-up music and reciting mantras to get hyped before the game.
Jefferson’s teammates say his routine is a little different. Junior defensive end Bryce Cottrell says Jefferson is often cracking jokes during travel time and is one of the most loved players on the roster. But when the team arrives at the stadium, his mood changes.
“He is really calm in the locker room,” Cottrell said. “But before we walk onto the field, you see him get serious. He is very focused on his assignments.”
As Jefferson prepared to enter his first college game in South Bend, Indiana against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, his headphones were playing classical music.
“If I play hip-hop or rap before the game I lose my focus,” Jefferson said. “I have a job to do on that field. I will get pumped when I am actually out there and making plays.”
Jefferson had nine tackles in that game. The next best performance by a freshman: two.
One tackle stands out in Jefferson’s memory. With five minutes to go in the second quarter, Notre Dame quarterback Malik Zaire handed the ball to his running back Josh Adams. Within a second, Jefferson saw an open target. There was no protection and Jefferson knew this was his play to make. He came off the edge full speed, and before Adams could even attempt to move the ball forward, Jefferson collided with Adams and twisted him flat onto his back.
A Notre Dame second-and-3 became third-and-5.
“I didn't even know I hit him that hard until I saw it on TV later,” Jefferson said. “When I got to the sideline Coach (Charlie) Strong said ‘You didn't even know you hit him that hard do you?’ And I said no.”
The game ended in a 38-3 loss for Texas. Despite what many considered an outstanding rookie performance, Jefferson saw no cause for celebration.
“There is so much more I can do for this team,” Jefferson said. “I will never pat myself on the back. There is always somewhere to improve in football. I don’t want the praise.”
Some of his friends question why Jefferson won’t transfer to a better program. Sports writers continued to praise his attitude and spirited play. His main concern is playing the game he loves, being happy and having a calm mind. Jefferson says he has no regrets.
“Sometimes I am surprised by how truly amazing he is,” Jefferson’s mom said. “The responsibility he carries at 19… I just don't know how he does it.”
Jefferson often finds himself wondering the same thing. The 19-year-old faces intense media attention and pressure to live up to the expectations that come with being a five-star recruit.
But that is why he has his lava lamp, bible study and his daily phone calls with his parents.
After a long practice or a hard day, you’ll likely find Jefferson in his room. One of Jefferson’s favorite unwinding techniques is to turn off the lights in his bathroom, plug in his lava lamp, put on some John Legend music and take a relaxing shower.
“I love my lava lamp,” Jefferson said. “I have it on all the time. It really helps me to unwind.”
The benevolent, good-natured freshman who lives in that tidy and Zen room is the same high-powered beast wearing No. 46 for the Texas Longhorns.
The End of Volleyball is a New Beginning for Kat Brooks
This story was published on ReportingTexas.com (a website with top stories from UT Austin Journalism students) as well as published on front page of the Austin American Statesman
Kat Brooks can sleep past 5 a.m. She can eat Hot Cheetos whenever she wants. She can get her nails done on the weekends.
Her passion for volleyball took the place of those simple pleasures when she started playing the game 10 years ago. The former University of Texas volleyball libero’s last semester of college is her first as just a student.
“It’s extremely hard to let something like this go, but I’m happy,” said Brooks, a 22-year-old Hawaii native who is scheduled to graduate in May with a degree in journalism. “This is the first time in my life where I haven’t had my schedule planned out for me. I can eat when I want, sleep in and plan without such rigid regiment.”
Brooks played 124 matches for the Longhorns as a libero, a position that specializes in defense. She and her senior teammates won four consecutive Big 12 Conference championships and advanced to a school-record four Final Four appearances. Brooks ended her volleyball career with 58 set aces, 136 assists and 609 digs.
Now, she’s finding peace in her departure from athletics.
Unlike many student-athletes, Brooks never intended to pursue her sport after graduation. Brooks says having this realization before she even got to the Forty Acres has helped her cope.
“I knew volleyball was going to end, and I didn’t want to prolong my transition from athlete to working professional longer than necessary,” Brooks said. “I always knew I needed to be good at things other than sports.”
For Brooks, volleyball started as a pastime when she was 11 years old growing up in Honolulu. It became more than just an after-school activity the summer before her freshman year at Punahou School, a private college prep school. Brooks was one of 50 players her age selected to attend a camp conducted by USA Volleyball. The invitation convinced her that a Division I athletic career was a possibility.
Her mother, Arlene Brooks, said she was nervous about Brooks’ being recruited, given the multitude of defensive specialists in the nation.
“We were extremely supportive, but we also knew there were a lot of really good 5-foot-4-inch liberos,” Arlene Brooks said. “But Kat always worked hard and earned a starting spot.”
Brooks entered the Texas volleyball program with her now fourth-year roommates, Amy Neal and Molly McCage. Neal, from Austin, was named 2011 Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year for the state of Texas. McCage, from Spring, was a Top 25 recruit. Brooks knew she had to prove herself, but that wasn’t her top priority.
For Brooks, the most important factor during the recruiting process was finding a school where she would not have to choose between academics and volleyball.
“I am not the type of person that can just wing a test,” she said. “I study very hard, but I know it’s worth it. I don’t understand why people would ever waste their opportunity to learn at one of the best universities in the world.”
Her passion in both the locker room and study hall was always clear to her teammates.
Neal said she was constantly impressed by Brooks’ efficiency and ability to get an A in almost all of her classes.
“Out of all the seniors, Kat was always the one focused on school first,” Neal said. “She got things done early, and she was so steady and organized.”
Brooks remembers a trip back to Austin after a game in Lubbock. She was exhausted. The trip was long. She had a history midterm the next morning. Because players are rarely excused from exams, she spent the flight home studying while her teammates slept. Brooks woke up the next morning and got an A on her midterm.
That’s just one of the many times Brooks had to deal with the consequences of a busy schedule.
Last season, she had class from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. She ate lunch with her team. She had practice from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., then went to the weight room to lift. She ate dinner with her teammates. Mandatory study hall lasted from 7 to 9 p.m.
The 13-hour days have paid off both on and off the court.
Brooks was named Academic All Big 12 First Team all three of the years she was eligible. She was also one of six UT student-athletes to receive the Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award, the highest academic honor for the Big 12 Conference. Nominees are required to have at least a 3.8 GPA as well as 100 earned credit hours.
Brooks says the validations make the sleepless nights entirely worth it.
“I’ve really come to admire her,” Arlene Brooks said. “I could never have carried a full college load while playing volleyball and done so well at both.”
Her career over, Brooks can go shopping with friends and take classes that conflict with team practice times. For the first spring semester of her college career she can go out on a Thursday night because she doesn’t have to wake up at 5 a.m. on Friday mornings for an off-season workout. She’s not taking that for granted.
Brooks is enjoying the sleeping in and girls’ nights out. But the change in her life really sank in as the team’s first preseason match on March 26 approached — a game she would not be part of. She distracted herself by diving into preparation for the next phase in her life. Nothing is firm yet, but she’s considering an internship this summer in Austin before lining up something full-time in the fall.
“A lot of athletes say you die two deaths. That might seem dramatic, but the day you stop playing is kind of like losing a part of your identity. You identify yourself as an athlete for so long,” Brooks said. “I am always going to have that piece of me, but there is so much more of my life to live. And I’m ready.”
Yale's Garrett White: The Receiver who Became a Life-Saving Donor
This story is published on OSDBSports.com. A new sports journalism and information databased backed by Aaron Rodgers.
A perfect match. People can spend their whole life searching for one. In the case of Yale wide receiver Garrett White, he became someone’s perfect match through a simple swab of his cheek. What wasn't simple, is that he had a one in 430 people chance to be a hero on the “Be The Match” bone marrow registry.
In early March, the rising senior found out he defied those 0.2 percent odds with the cheek swab he gave his freshman year. On May 1, he became a hero in a much bigger game. White was a match for someone in need and he became a donor.
“It was so exciting when I finally got the call because I had been waiting to see if I was a match for so long,” White told OSDB Sports recently. “I remember I was with all of my roommates when I got the call. Everyone was really fired up and excited about it.”
The Yale donor drive is part of the “Get in the Game. Save a Life” program through “Be A Match.” The program initially started in 1992 at Villanova and was led by their then-head football coach Andy Talley.
Larry Ciotti, who is described by White as a legendary figure in Yale football history, was friends with Talley and brought the drive idea to Yale. The Yale Athletic Department has held drives the last 11 years in memory of women’s ice hockey player Mandi Schwartz. Schwartz was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and lost her brave battle in 2011. The drive has been in her honor since.
The football and women’s ice hockey teams helped lead the charge for the first two years and started to spread the word to other athletes, friends, classmates and relatives as the years went on. Yale’s record-setting drives have added more than 7,000 potential donors to the registry and have paired over 58 life-saving donor matches.
While his teammates and peers were studying for finals, Garrett White was preparing for a life-changing procedure. The 21-year-old underwent a Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donation (PBSC), which according to “Be The Match” is one of the two methods of collecting blood-forming cells for bone marrow transplants. PBSC is a nonsurgical procedure, where a donor’s blood is removed through a needle in one arm and passed through a machine to collect the blood-forming cells. The remaining blood is returned to a donor in their other arm. PBSC is a newer method of donation that accompanies the more well-known marrow transplant which is through a surgical procedure from the donor’s hip.
For five days leading up to White’s PBSC donation, he received injections of a drug called Filgrastim. Filgrastim increases the number of blood stem cells in a person’s blood stream. These injections have various side effects depending on the person, but are known to cause flu-like symptoms. White said although he had moderate symptoms from the injections, they were definitely tolerable.
On the day of his procedure, White did his PBSC donation in about three hours; a process that takes the average person up to eight hours.
“The nurses told me it was one of the shortest transfusions they had ever seen, because my stem cell count was so high,” White said. “I literally was in there at 7:00 a.m. and back on the train for school by lunch time.”
White says if there was anything to relay from his experience, it is how easy the process is. He sees many people walk past the drive every year because they are too afraid or don’t want to take the time.
“If people really knew that it’s a swab on a cheek and then maybe a one in 430 chance that you can save someone’s life, I’d think it would be a no brainer,” White said. “And then if you do get that chance, it truly is such an easy process. I just hope that we can continue to increase awareness about this drive and the registry and get more and more people on there.”
White admits that when he first got the call he was a match, his initial thought was how long he would have to miss football.
“I very quickly realized my worry about myself was secondary because there was someone who could be losing their life if I didn’t go through with this,” White said.
It is this idea about remembering to have perspective and putting others before yourself that seems to ring true throughout the Yale athletic department. The importance of having players keep what they do in perspective is always emphasized.
“We put so much time into our craft that sometimes you can inflate how important it is” White said. “I think a project like this really lets you step back and have a perspective on what you are doing and helps you affect lives in a positive way.”
This goes along with the Yale’s goal of making its athletes into life-changing leaders both on the field and in their community. It is these ideals that make White proud to be a Yale Bulldog.
Although White does not know who his donation is going to, he says he hopes to one day be able to meet the person who now carries his stem cells. However, there are privacy rules that limit when and how people can connect after a donation.
Donors and receivers must wait at least one year after the transplant before any contact can be made. And, both parties have to agree to wanting contact for a connection to be made. According to “Be The Match,” these rules are in place to protect the patient and the donor.
“I think the bond we share whether we meet up or not is really cool. They will always have a piece of me in them,” White said.
White will take the field in September as a receiver who became a donor and learned far beyond what knowledge he has gained on the field.
Eric LeGrand Continues to Inspire Through Determination and Hard Work
Lauren caught up with the former football player who was paralyzed nine years ago to find out what he is up to today. This story is published on OSDBSports.com. A new sports journalism and information databased backed by Aaron Rodgers.
For a man who has had so much taken from him, Eric LeGrand continues to give.
The former Rutgers football player was paralyzed from the neck down when making a routine tackle on a kickoff against Army in October of 2010. LeGrand fractured his C3 and C4 cervical vertebrae.
LeGrand needed a respirator to help him breathe. Doctors told his mother that he would need the machine in order to breathe for the rest of his life and that he had a 0-5 percent chance of walking again.
“At first I thought my life was over,” LeGrand told OSDB Sports recently. “I couldn’t breathe. I knew I wasn’t going to be playing football anymore, but at that point I had no idea if I could even live a normal life.”
That, however, wasn’t the end of Eric LeGrand’s story. The next day, he woke up and mouthed the words “I’ll be back” to his mother.
The now 28-year-old says he took his football mentality into his post-injury life to not let the diagnosis beat him. He says he was born a happy-go-lucky people person. He loves being around people and making them smile. He refused to let people see him upset all the time. That simply isn’t who he is.
What was the end of the football chapter of LeGrand’s life was the beginning of a new one as a philanthropist and a face for the fight to cure paralysis.
“Yes, I suffered a horrible injury. But I realized there was a bigger purpose behind it,” LeGrand said. “No matter what bad things happen to me, I know there is a bigger purpose. This injury is a reminder of what I do have and what can be taken from you at the drop of a hat. I lean on that idea to remember I was put in this position for a reason.”
LeGrand plays host to a variety of events and travels the country to attend speaking engagements to help raise money and spread the word about spinal cord injuries. This is his new-found purpose.
One such example started weeks after his injury.
Arlene Gonzalez, a mom from New Jersey, saw Eric’s story on the news and felt compelled to help. She simply couldn’t imagine what she would do if this happened to one of her two sons.
“I sent private messages to his mom and asked if I could come visit him,” Gonzalez said. “When I met him there was an immediate connection. I truly love Eric. He is like a son to me. That boy touches everyone he meets. I wanted to make a difference for him.”
LeGrand says when Gonzalez says she wants to do something, she makes it happen.
Gonzalez came up with the idea to host a walk in New Jersey with the mission of creating awareness, providing assistance for those with spinal cord injuries, and raising money for charities researching cures. That was the birth of Eric’s longest running philanthropic event “A Walk to Believe.” Since the first walk in May 2011, it has grown far past what Gonzalez and LeGrand imagined.
“We started out with a very plain 5K walk. Now we have a huge tailgate, a 5K run and have increased our turnout by over 1,000 people. A lot of people wanted to help Eric right after his injury, but I knew this would be a matter of continuing and consistency,” Gonzalez said.
So far, the walk has raised approximately $500,000 for Team LeGrand, the Rutgers Spinal Cord Injury Project and the Eric LeGrand Believe Fund. Next year will be the 10th anniversary of the walk.
One of his proudest moments came in 2013 when he started Team LeGrand, a fund launched within the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. Moving forward, money raised through his charity events went directly to that fund, which helps support research to find a cure for paralysis as well as making efforts to improve the quality of life for those affected with spinal cord injuries.
“Ever since Team LeGrand was formed, it has been pedal to the metal with finding ways to raise money for that fund,” LeGrand said.
LeGrand has raised more than $1.5 million for the fund to date.
One of the biggest contributing annual fundraisers for Team LeGrand is “An Evening with Eric LeGrand.” What started as an idea for a one-time fundraiser, has raised an estimated $90,000.
The event is hosted by Rutgers alumni Jason Newcomb and Ronald Garutti Jr., and Newroads Financial Group. Each year there is a silent and live auction and a panel of speakers, including LeGrand, affected by spinal cord injuries. Next year, will mark the seventh of these evenings.
“An Evening with Eric LeGrand has grown tremendously,” LeGrand said. “Each year we break our record and bring so much money into the foundation.”
LeGrand says one of his favorite parts of that occasion is getting to share his story, something he hopes to do a lot more of in the future.
“I never thought I’d go from always being the hype man on our football team to a public speaking career, but it’s all in God’s plan,” LeGrand said. “I love being an inspiration for people and spreading awareness. People need to be more comfortable being around people that are disabled. Educating people around these situations is huge. And, at the end of the day, I just want to share my message of positivity, handling adversity and living life to the fullest to as many people as possible.”
LeGrand admits that he didn’t know where his life was going to go when he first was injured, but he now sees every day as another day to attack trying to walk again, to tell his story to more people, and to do more to help others.
In an effort to get as many people in the community involved as possible, LeGrand launched a charity tournament this year involving football fans’ favorite tailgate game: Cornhole. LeGrand says he chose to start a cornhole tournament in addition to his yearly flag football tournaments, because Cornhole is a game people of all ages, genders, sizes and abilities can play.
There were only three teams signed up three months before the Aug. 3 tournament. A month before the event, there were 15 teams signed up. LeGrand ordered 118 T-shirts thinking that would be plenty. A week before, the list was up to 28 teams.
“I said if we get to 30 teams, I will be happy,” LeGrand said.
On the day of the tournament, 64 teams showed up. Yet another set of odds LeGrand was able to defy.
Between the $30 admission fee, $500 for sponsors to get their logo put on a cornhole board, the 20% profit share from Dave & Busters and additional donations, LeGrand estimates the competition brought in around $9,000 for Team LeGrand. That $9,000 is a part of the combined $60,000 raised from the cornhole and flag football tournaments.
“It was insane,” LeGrand said while laughing. “I was so blown away. It ran so smoothly. People had a great time. The only hiccup was we ran out of T-shirts!”
Moving forward, LeGrand hopes to continue educating people and to get more involved in the paralysis community.
“People may not like football or know me from football, but now they know my story and about spinal cord injuries because of these events and speaking engagements I have had,” LeGrand said. “That’s why I love to step out of my comfort zone and do things like cornhole.”
LeGrand plans to host five money-raising events a year. He wants to live to see the day where the world no longer needs wheelchairs. And, he still believes he will walk again.
“Even in just the few years that I have had this foundation; when I take a step back and look at them, I have done some amazing things,” LeGrand said. “I am always looking forward and trying to do more and more, but sometimes it’s nice to take a minute to look back on what I have done. It is truly amazing.”
LeGrand says there is a lot of negativity going on in the world, and if he can be that ray of sunshine and positivity for people, then that is what he will continue to be.
“We all face some sort of adversity in our lives, big or small,” LeGrand said. “How we handle that adversity is what defines who we are as human beings.”