How does Brooks go from an unknown recruit from Alabama to a starter for Tennessee football?

Thompson High School boasted the best quarterback and one of the best offenses in Alabama in the fall of 2018. But on a mid-October night in Trussville, Will Brooks twice intercepted Alabama commit Taulia Tagovailoa in the red zone as Vestavia Hills held the Warriors to their second-lowest score of the season and nearly upset one of the state's best teams.

Long before Will Brooks was the back-end anchor of Tennessee's best defense in two decades, he was flying under the radar and producing at the top level of Alabama high school football.

Here's how a high school lacrosse All-American football recruit who grew up 65 miles from the University of Alabama became an unlikely figure in Tennessee's secondary.

“I think Will makes the people around him better,” former Vestavia Hills defensive line coach Todd Evans told RTI. “I think that’s his greatest quality.”

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Will Brooks almost played college lacrosse

Will Brooks was anything but a top football recruit coming out of Birmingham. Instead, he attracted more college interest with his lacrosse game.

“For a long time we thought lacrosse would be his sport,” John Brooks, Will’s father, told RTI.

According to USA Lacrosse, Brooks was a high school All-American, but there is little major lacrosse played in the Yellowhammer State. Brooks played travel lacrosse for 3D Georgia, traveling to Atlanta for practice on spring weekends before frequently flying to the Northeast to compete in tournaments during the summer.

“Will is not the type of guy to put all his eggs in one basket,” Evans said of Brooks, who played lacrosse in the summer. “He’s really a well-rounded person.”

But that doesn't mean football was an afterthought for Brooks. At the start of his sophomore year, he secured a starting spot at Vestavia Hills. With the Rebels running a 4-4 defense against Huffman High School's potent rushing attack, Brooks made four touchdown-saving tackles in the open field as Vestavia snuffed out assignments up front.

“It wasn’t hard to find the role of Will,” Evans said. “I mean, it's not like I was psychic. Will was good from the start and as soon as we talked to him I noticed that something was different.”

Even as a sophomore, Brooks' ability to quickly identify and interpret events was a major strength. His football intelligence gave Vestavia's coaches confidence that he could attack defenses at the back, while his ability to not “take wrong steps” helped make up for a lack of speed up top.

“He could get us in the right coverage and make sure we were exactly where we needed to be, and he could get everyone else in line,” former Vestavia Hills head coach Buddy Anderson told RTI. “Everyone depended on him and he was able to make sure they were all prepared for what we needed to do with our defense.”

But instead of focusing full-time on football, Brooks continued playing lacrosse, a sport he had excelled at since elementary school.

His play drew interest from a number of top lacrosse schools, including Notre Dame, North Carolina, Denver and Ohio State. However, lacrosse scholarships are limited and none of these schools have ever offered an athletic scholarship He offers guaranteed roster spots, with Brooks' accomplishments in the classroom positioning him for academic scholarships.

What sport would Brooks have chosen if a lacrosse program had been the catalyst for a scholarship? The great question on his sporting journey.

“If there had been a lacrosse school (offer), I would have thought about doing it,” Will Brooks told RTI. “I always knew I wanted to play football so that would have been a big decision. I honestly don't know what my response would have been at that point. I don’t really know if I would have continued playing soccer or stuck with lacrosse 100%.”

“We kept asking him, 'Which do you like more, soccer or lacrosse?'” John Brooks added. “He would never give us a clear answer. Personally, and I thought he was a very good lacrosse player, I thought he would go there. But deep down, football was his first love.”

How Will Brooks came to Tennessee

Although there were no scholarship offers, Will Brooks was not often discouraged during the recruiting process. But his father remembers the frustration that arose after a lacrosse recruiting interview in October of Will's senior year.

“I remember sitting down with him his senior year,” John Brooks said. “It was when Ohio State – which was probably the last real attention we got in lacrosse – the coach was very honest with us and just said that from a scientific standpoint, you're an outsider looking in. We are still interested in you, but we probably won't make you an offer.

“He was really down and I think that’s when he made the decision to really focus on football.”

However, that October meeting wasn't the first turning point that steered Brooks toward football. After largely rejecting summer football camps and combines early in his high school years, trusting that game film was enough to generate recruiting interest, Brooks attended a Vanderbilt camp and a Nike SPARQ combine before his senior year.

For Brooks, it was already too late in the recruiting process to generate much interest. But by performing well in both events, Brooks garnered more attention in football, whether at FCS schools or as a preferred backup at Vanderbilt.

On the field, Brooks continued to get better. In his senior year, he was a Second Team All-Alabama free safety, behind only Malachi Moore, a four-star recruit who signed with the Crimson Tide. Although he was unranked by 247sports and had no FBS offers, his play gave him confidence that he was good enough to play in the SEC.

“You can’t look into someone’s heart,” Anderson said. “Will had the little things. Let’s put it this way: He had the “it” factor.”

While the up-and-coming Brooks continued to compete against top high school competition, Tennessee was in search of a reliable defensive back. Then-head coach Jeremy Pruitt had no shortage of connections in Birmingham, but the relationship between Vols inside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer and Evans set the stage for Brooks to move to Tennessee.

Brooks visited Tennessee for the first time for the 2019 UAB game. The longtime Auburn fan immediately felt at home on Rocky Top.

“He went to Knox and fell in love, and he went there and came to see us for a game, and when he came back he said, 'I want to go to school there,'” Evans said.

Brooks and his father returned for another visit in January. Then things finally fell into place. Pruitt offered Brooks a preferred walk-on spot, the only SEC school besides Vanderbilt to do so, and the 6-foot-1, 178-pound safety jumped at the opportunity.

“I just realized that I really wanted to dedicate myself to football and give everything to football,” Brooks said. “Because I loved playing football. When I got the opportunity to potentially play at a big SEC school like Tennessee, I thought to myself, 'That's what I want to do.'”

Check off goals

Walking the tightrope between self-confidence and realism is an extreme challenge for every athlete.

That's what Will and John were striving for when discussing Will's goals for each college season. Will believed he could become a real donor for Tennessee. He also knew it wouldn't happen overnight.

undressing during his first season. Check. Traveling with the team as a redshirt freshman and playing on return units. Check it again.

And while chaos and uncertainty were the only constants during Brooks' first two seasons in Tennessee, that proved to be a good thing for Brooks. COVID-19 kept players away from practice throughout the 2020 season, and the mass exodus following the NCAA investigation and Pruitt's subsequent termination created more training opportunities for Brooks.

“If there's such a thing as a transfer portal-safe kid, I think it's Will, because I think when Tennessee showed loyalty to Will Brooks, Will Brooks showed loyalty to Tennessee because they kind of gave him a chance that no one else gave him had really given,” Evans said.

When Tennessee's new recruits arrived in January 2021, it didn't take long for them to notice the same things about their second-year safety that the Vestavia Hills staff noticed four years earlier. Brooks was the first to understand concepts and answer questions as Tennessee lined up its defense.

“You knew right away,” Tennessee defensive backs coach Willie Martinez said of knowing Brooks could play at the SEC level. “He makes an immediate impression when we complete one exercise after another, very consistent.”

Brooks earned more and more opportunities and achieved more goals for the year. Play on more special teams as a redshirt sophomore. Check.

And when he started playing on special teams, like recovering a fumble at LSU, he focused on playing more on defense in the 2023 season. Injuries presented opportunities toward the end of the year and Brooks continued to score by regularly participating in SEC games against Georgia and Vanderbilt.

“It didn’t surprise me one bit when I saw him play in some of their packages last year,” Anderson said. “I said, 'I'm not sure he won't start for them next year.'”

Gaining experience and confidence prepared Brooks for his ultimate goal as a college football player.

“This year my goal was to start and be a productive player,” Brooks said. “Do my job and have a great season.”

One final check.

Brooks started every game for Tennessee this season and performed at a high level in the Vols' above-average secondary. Midway through the season, he is Tennessee's fourth-best defender according to PFF and has played his best in the Vols' biggest games.

With Tennessee hosting Alabama on the third Saturday in October, there will be an inordinate number of people cheering for the Big Orange 65 miles east of Tuscaloosa.

“I’m an Alabama guy,” Evans said. “And here’s one of my favorite people playing for Tennessee. So I'm torn. I'm always interested in Will Brooks. I don’t care if they play Alabama or not because I’m a bigger Will Brooks fan than I would ever be an Alabama fan.”