DE Kenneth Brinson epitomizes the meaning of a true Student-Athlete
When Rivals 3-star DE Kenneth Brinson committed to Army just days before Christmas 2015, it was probably one of the best presents that head coach Jeff Monken and his staff could receive.
Brinson had tons of Power 5 offers and had narrowed down his selection between two programs .... Army and Stanford, with the Black Knights winning the recruiting war for this very unique student-athlete.
Unique might add? Yes, unique. Not only was Brinson bringing his football talents to West Point, but his classroom successes (4.11 GPA as a high school senior), wrestling (2nd in the nation in the 220 pound weight class) and track skills as well.
THE STUDENT-ATHLETE
As a freshman at the United States Military at West Point, the product of Kennesaw (GA) has already made his mark in the classroom of the institution that was named by Forbes as the BEST public college in 2015.
For the first semester, Brinson was ranked No. 1 amongst the current crop of freshmen (aka plebes) at the academy.
Of course for the Chemical Engineering major, it is no easy task to balance his academics, football and track, along with the other demands that come along with being a cadet at West Point.
“To be honest with you and especially for 1st semester they {chuckles} kind of do most of the work for us,” said Brinson in his conversation with GoBlackKnights.com after Thursday’s practice. “You know, they tell us were we are going to be and with study hall and everything that was a big help. Kind of organizing my schedule and make sure that I have a clear block of time where I can be efficient to get as much work done in a certain amount of time.”
TRACK
When it comes to track, young Mr. Brinson is presently participating in outdoor track, where his primary events are the Hammer Throw and Discus.
“I wouldn’t say that I have done as well as I hope, but I think that I’ve definitely improved which is ... but not where I want to be,” he acknowledged, as the track season is still underway, where his participation is now minimized due to spring football practice. “I will probably finish up spring football and then going to track practice and preparing for the conference meets and stuff like that. So, I’m not participating in track as much now, because I’m mainly focusing on football right now.”
SPRING FOOTBALL
As a frosh, Brinson played in twelve games in 2015 and started in six of those contests at Rush D-end position in the Black Knights 3-4 defense.
He acknowledged that his game experience last year and the team’s winter S&C have prepared him for his first taste of spring football.
“I think it has definitely helped, but I still think that I have a long way to go,” explained Brinson. “I think I can kind of see the areas where I need to improve.”
Part of the winter S&C now has him tipping the scales at 6-foot-2, 229 pounds, which is a weight that seems to fit him well. “I would love to gain a little more weight, but we’ll see what happens,” stated Brinson, who also had this to say about his performance thus far this spring.
“To be honest with you, I feel that sometimes I do better than other days,” shared Brinson, who is atop the depth chart at Rush DE. “But, on the whole I wouldn’t say that I’ve made all the plays that I needed to make and hopefully I can rectify that before spring ball ends.”
According to Army defensive coordinator Jay Bateman, Brinson has been a consistent performer this spring, which is another promising piece to defense that has tremendous upside.
“He's doing really well,” Bateman told GoBlackKnights.com. “He’s improving every day as he gets more comfortable.”
So, the proverbial question that we laid out for Brinson, allowed him to share with of us which of the aforementioned ‘activities’ [academics, football & track] exceeds the others or does each bring their own unique degree of satisfaction?
“To be honest with you, I try to do the best I can in all arenas,” he stated. “Athletically, competing in both bring the same level of satisfaction. But, I would definitely say that I focus more on the classroom. From an early age my parents have always told me that is the most important thing. When I do good in both (football & track), but if I’m not doing well academically that really concerns me.”
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