There is little chance DeCalon Brooks will be as good as his father.
There's no shame in that, obviously. His father was arguably the best outside linebacker in football history.
Still, that last name carries a whole lot of weight at Florida State.
Derrick Brooks was an All-American here before becoming an NFL Hall of Famer with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
So far, through his first spring at FSU, DeCalon is doing his part to carry on the family tradition. The redshirt freshman, who missed all of his true freshman year with a knee injury, has impressed his teammates and coaches alike since getting the all-clear to continue football training.
Florida State head coach Willie Taggart, who recruited Brooks while he was at South Florida, said he is really encouraged with how the linebacker competed during offseason conditioning drills.
And that's just carried over into spring practice, where Brooks has been lining up as the starter at the "Star" outside linebacker position.
"I’m really impressed with what he’s done this spring," Taggart said. "I saw that throughout 'The Chase,' how hard he was working, and how bad he wants to get out there and compete and show he can play at this level."
Brooks is only 5-foot-11. And he's listed at 211 pounds.
So he's not an imposing physical presence by any means.
Then again, neither was his dad when he arrived at Florida State. And he turned out to be pretty good.
Brooks said he's just happy to be back out on the field again competing. He was injured during his senior season of high school.
"It's a blessing," he said. "After all that training, all that therapy, being out for a year and a half, it feels good to be out there and finally get a chance to go out there and compete at Doak."
