Hawks’ Brinson has worked long, hard to get where he is

IOWA CITY - This isn't a story meant to hype a player for the oncoming season. This is a story about getting here.

A game of phone tag this spring ended with Northeast (St. Petersburg, Fla.) football coach Jay Austin leaving a message saying he'd love to talk about “one of my favorite people ever.”

That's Jeff Brinson, a red-shirt freshman running back at the University of Iowa.

Austin spent 10 seasons as an assistant at Northeast. He got the top gig when Brinson was a senior. Brinson already had a massive career, but as a senior he punched in big time for Austin, gaining 1,985 yards and scoring 24 touchdowns on 260 carries. Before opposing defenses wised up, he was gaining more, Austin said.

Austin explained “wising up” this way: “The first three weeks, before they started putting all 11 up there in the box, he was averaging 330 yards a game. That was something to watch.”

The football was part of it.

Brinson rushed for 4,925 yards and 67 touchdowns at Northeast. He was a first-team all-stater, all-Suncoast and all-county. He had a ton of scholarship offers.

“I just thought so much about him as a person, how he carried himself, almost professionally, at such a young age,” Austin said. “He carried himself with such class. Never had a problem with anybody or anything. He was just one of those kinds of kids. It's why you coach, for kids like that, you know?

“He was a great, great, great football player, but I always told everybody he was an even better kid.”

Apparently, Brinson was never really a kid.

He's been a preacher at Stewart Isom Memorial Church in St. Petersburg since age 14. He's from a single-parent family (his mom is Tangelia Dickens) and sometimes they couldn't afford the rent. He moved four or five times his senior year.

He held four or five jobs at a time to help with the bills. His days would begin at 5:40 a.m. and end about 11:30 p.m.

“Same routine everyday,” Brinson said. “It was exhausting, but I felt like I had to do it to get where I am right now.”

Brinson also had a fierce battle with asthma when he arrived in Iowa City last fall. He had to monitor it in Florida, but Iowa's climate kicked it into overdrive. It took until December before he was comfortable with the treatment.

“I think we've got it under control now,” Brinson said. “That's one thing, you've got to continue to live and just go through.”

One final and nasty obstacle on Brinson's path to Iowa was Florida State.

The FSU coaching staff slow-played Brinson and then sent a strike team to St. Petersburg as signing day 2008 approached. Brinson grew up a Florida State fan, but he'd made his choice. Iowa was the first school to offer. He wasn't budging, but that didn't matter.

“They got a hold of one of the assistant coaches and they found out his mama worked at Walgreens,” Austin said. “They went to the damn Walgreens, set up a meeting and went to his house for two hours and put on the full-court press. This was three days before signing day. They were after him to change.”

The answer stayed “no thanks,” but the recruiting didn't stop.

“I told them no, my mom told them no, my coaches told them no,” Brinson said. “And they still didn't listen. We had to tell them to stop or we were going to tell (legendary head coach) Bobby Bowden.”

Brinson said life is better at home, but he's still looking out for his family. He said encouragement from Iowa teammates and coaches helps.

“I'm trying to help out my family as much as possible,” he said. “Times are hard right now, but if you keep God first and continue to have faith everything will turn out well.”

It's already a good story, football or no football.