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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - There weren't many collegiate programs interested in recruiting Brycen Hopkins.
Not even the one located about nine miles from his high school.
Partly, because playing football wasn't always at the forefront for him.
Sure, as a young kid he was asked what he wanted to do when he grew up, and Hopkins responded with "be a football player." And his dad was a two-time NFL Pro Bowl selection, so football was a part of family life.
But an injury and lack of desire led to him giving up the sport once he got to high school. It didn't help that he stood about 5-foot-4 in sixth grade, so basketball became his sport.
Now, he's on the preseason John Mackey Award watch list, presented at the end of the season to the nation's best tight end. Hopkins caught 34 passes for 583 yards and two touchdowns a year ago.
Not bad for a guy who almost gave up on the sport.
"I hated football – the physicality," says Hopkins, who had a career-high six receptions in the Boilermakers' season opener at Nevada and was honored as the John Mackey Tight End of the Week. "I liked basketball, just going out there and shooting. All of the requirements and preparations of football weren't for me at the beginning."
Then, he started to grow during his sophomore year at Ensworth High School in Nashville, Tennessee. At the time, Ricky Bowers was the head football and basketball coach at the school. He saw what Hopkins could do on the basketball court and his athletic potential.
Soon, the pitches on coming back to football began.
"There were probably a lot of pitches," Bowers says. "Most people would call him a little bit of a late bloomer. When he was a freshman, he was very slight, but you could tell he had the frame for it. He's a smart kid. He was hard working and responsible. He was the kind of kid you would want on the team even if he wasn't any good."
Once Hopkins began to grow, he decided to give football a second chance in his junior year. He didn't want to have any regrets later in life on what might have been.
Hopkins picked up the game quickly enough to gain the interest of Purdue, the first school to offer him a scholarship.
"That was really the first time I realized I could go to college and play football," Hopkins says. "Before I was just playing to play, and because people told me I could be good at it. It wasn't really my sport. I was a baseball and basketball guy."
Few schools followed. Even Vanderbilt, the school just down the road from Ensworth, showed no interest.
Hopkins had the pedigree. His father, Brad Hopkins, played all of his 13-year NFL career with the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans franchise. But the son of an NFL player in the same city wasn't enough to draw Vanderbilt's interest. And his dad's alma mater – Illinois – wasn't intrigued either.
Ironically, Western Kentucky's staff, led then by current Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm, recruited Hopkins heavily. Ryan Wallace, Purdue's current tight ends coach, was the lead recruiter for Hopkins at Western Kentucky.
"I would say it's most certainly a motivating factor today," Hopkins says of his recruitment in general. "I know in high school I wasn't highly recruited, but I didn't have a lot of experience under my belt, so that's completely understandable."
Some programs didn't think Hopkins was fast enough. That might have been because of those knee braces he wore in high school. Ensworth was primarily a power-running program, so Hopkins spent more time blocking than running routes. And he also played some on the defensive line.
Because of those roles, Hopkins had to wear knee braces similar to those used by offensive linemen. Aesthetically, those braces sure didn't make him look faster.
"I had to wrap them up in velcro so they didn't scratch, so you couldn't see them, but that's a big part of the reason I wasn't as fast," Hopkins says.
Once he arrived at Purdue, he ditched the knee braces and redshirted his freshman season, admitting he had a lot of work to do in learning the playbook.
Four years later, Hopkins is one of the premier tight ends in the nation. In addition to being on the Mackey Award watch list, he is a preseason All-Big Ten selection by numerous outlets, and Gil Brandt, a recent inductee in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, listed Hopkins as his top-ranked tight end in the NFL Draft class of 2020.
"He checks all the boxes," says Brad Hopkins, who primarily played left tackle in his NFL career. "Every single one of them for his position. He has prototypical size and I will say above-average speed for a guy that big. He has tremendous hands because he's a basketball player. He has the kind of durability, dexterity that can be an in-line blocker. He can put his hand in the dirt and block like an extension of the offensive line, or he can line up in the slot and run a route and be an advantage that way."
And who knows, maybe Brycen Hopkins will follow in his father's footsteps and play for the hometown Tennessee Titans. At this point, why rule out a scenario like that?
"Me and my dad joke about it all of the time," Hopkins says. "What are the chances of that happening? But then again, what are the chances that I'm the son of an NFL player? What are the chances I get to be a Division I player and I have a chance to go to the league?"
Buy Tickets
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - There weren't many collegiate programs interested in recruiting Brycen Hopkins.
Not even the one located about nine miles from his high school.
Partly, because playing football wasn't always at the forefront for him.
Sure, as a young kid he was asked what he wanted to do when he grew up, and Hopkins responded with "be a football player." And his dad was a two-time NFL Pro Bowl selection, so football was a part of family life.
But an injury and lack of desire led to him giving up the sport once he got to high school. It didn't help that he stood about 5-foot-4 in sixth grade, so basketball became his sport.
Now, he's on the preseason John Mackey Award watch list, presented at the end of the season to the nation's best tight end. Hopkins caught 34 passes for 583 yards and two touchdowns a year ago.
Not bad for a guy who almost gave up on the sport.
"I hated football – the physicality," says Hopkins, who had a career-high six receptions in the Boilermakers' season opener at Nevada and was honored as the John Mackey Tight End of the Week. "I liked basketball, just going out there and shooting. All of the requirements and preparations of football weren't for me at the beginning."
Then, he started to grow during his sophomore year at Ensworth High School in Nashville, Tennessee. At the time, Ricky Bowers was the head football and basketball coach at the school. He saw what Hopkins could do on the basketball court and his athletic potential.
Soon, the pitches on coming back to football began.
"There were probably a lot of pitches," Bowers says. "Most people would call him a little bit of a late bloomer. When he was a freshman, he was very slight, but you could tell he had the frame for it. He's a smart kid. He was hard working and responsible. He was the kind of kid you would want on the team even if he wasn't any good."
Once Hopkins began to grow, he decided to give football a second chance in his junior year. He didn't want to have any regrets later in life on what might have been.
Hopkins picked up the game quickly enough to gain the interest of Purdue, the first school to offer him a scholarship.
"That was really the first time I realized I could go to college and play football," Hopkins says. "Before I was just playing to play, and because people told me I could be good at it. It wasn't really my sport. I was a baseball and basketball guy."
Few schools followed. Even Vanderbilt, the school just down the road from Ensworth, showed no interest.
Hopkins had the pedigree. His father, Brad Hopkins, played all of his 13-year NFL career with the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans franchise. But the son of an NFL player in the same city wasn't enough to draw Vanderbilt's interest. And his dad's alma mater – Illinois – wasn't intrigued either.
Ironically, Western Kentucky's staff, led then by current Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm, recruited Hopkins heavily. Ryan Wallace, Purdue's current tight ends coach, was the lead recruiter for Hopkins at Western Kentucky.
"I would say it's most certainly a motivating factor today," Hopkins says of his recruitment in general. "I know in high school I wasn't highly recruited, but I didn't have a lot of experience under my belt, so that's completely understandable."
Some programs didn't think Hopkins was fast enough. That might have been because of those knee braces he wore in high school. Ensworth was primarily a power-running program, so Hopkins spent more time blocking than running routes. And he also played some on the defensive line.
Because of those roles, Hopkins had to wear knee braces similar to those used by offensive linemen. Aesthetically, those braces sure didn't make him look faster.
"I had to wrap them up in velcro so they didn't scratch, so you couldn't see them, but that's a big part of the reason I wasn't as fast," Hopkins says.
Once he arrived at Purdue, he ditched the knee braces and redshirted his freshman season, admitting he had a lot of work to do in learning the playbook.
Four years later, Hopkins is one of the premier tight ends in the nation. In addition to being on the Mackey Award watch list, he is a preseason All-Big Ten selection by numerous outlets, and Gil Brandt, a recent inductee in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, listed Hopkins as his top-ranked tight end in the NFL Draft class of 2020.
"He checks all the boxes," says Brad Hopkins, who primarily played left tackle in his NFL career. "Every single one of them for his position. He has prototypical size and I will say above-average speed for a guy that big. He has tremendous hands because he's a basketball player. He has the kind of durability, dexterity that can be an in-line blocker. He can put his hand in the dirt and block like an extension of the offensive line, or he can line up in the slot and run a route and be an advantage that way."
And who knows, maybe Brycen Hopkins will follow in his father's footsteps and play for the hometown Tennessee Titans. At this point, why rule out a scenario like that?
"Me and my dad joke about it all of the time," Hopkins says. "What are the chances of that happening? But then again, what are the chances that I'm the son of an NFL player? What are the chances I get to be a Division I player and I have a chance to go to the league?"