After years of waiting, Ellis Brooks is ready to take his chance
Ellis Brooks easily picked out the game when he eliminated his own sense of doubt.
He capped off his redshirt freshman season in 2018 with three tackles in the Citrus Bowl against Kentucky. The game ended in a loss for Penn State, but for Brooks, it acted as a platform to build on heading into 2019, when he was used frequently as a rotation option within Brent Pry’s defense.
Now, Brooks has a chance to do more.
“For those who really got a chance to watch me play, I feel like I was very productive [last season] and got a chance to show what I can do,” Brooks said Thursday. “This year is going to be my first chance to go out there and get my feet solidified. It’s going to be cool. I feel like for a long time, I’ve just been working, and this is my chance to show everybody what I can do.”
Brooks, a four-star recruit before he arrived on campus, featured enough on the back of his redshirt season to give Penn State fans an understanding of his capabilities.
He’s collected 69 tackles over the last two seasons coming off the bench, showcasing a reliability that has been often praised by Penn State’s coaching staff.
But Brooks has demonstrated a bit of flash on occasion as well, including a 2.5-sack showing last season against Maryland in Penn State’s 59-0 romp of the Terps.
As a reward, Brooks was listed at the top of the spring depth chart at the inside linebacker position ahead of Jesse Luketa, setting up what is sure to be an interesting position battle between two upperclassmen who had been waiting for this opportunity.
“I think we’ve got a heck of a competition between Jesse and Ellis to see who can take that Mike spot, at least initially,” Pry said.
And he certainly won’t be the only one watching with a keen eye.
“It’s going to be a crazy competitive room this summer, this camp,” linebacker Micah Parsons said. “I personally can’t wait to see who’s going to win the jobs.”
The Nittany Lions still haven’t taken the field together as a team this summer, so Brooks hasn’t been able to compete for his spot in the traditional way.
Still, he’s doing what he can to give himself any edge.
“It’s been different,” he said. “We haven’t really had a chance to get out there on the field, but competing with our note-taking, competing with our film study, just in everything...it gets you better.”
Physically, Brooks feels prepared, too, and said he isn’t daunted by the task of getting himself in game shape by the start of the season.
“I feel like I’ve done a good job preparing myself,” Brooks said. “Ever since we went home with COVID and everything, I’ve been able to work at a high level. I had a good situation back home, so I don’t feel like it’s been much of a drop off from where I would have been if things were completely normal. I might even be higher, the way I’ve been working out.”
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