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Derrick Brooks took advantage nearly 30 years ago to utilize the Senior Bowl practice week and game performance to launch his decorated NFL career.
That highlight effort will be recognized Saturday in Mobile when Brooks, a Pensacola native and Booker T. Washington High graduate, is officially honored as part of the Senior Bowl 75th Anniversary Team during the milestone 75th Reese’s Senior Bowl game at Hancock Whitney Stadium on the University of South Alabama campus.
While he can’t be at the game, Brooks expressed gratitude when the selection of the 41-player anniversary team was announced in November.
The former Florida State All-American and Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker star is one of 19 players on the 75th Senior Bowl Anniversary Team enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
“I am so humbled and honored to be amongst this great group of players, especially these linebackers,” said Brooks in a news release from the Reese’s Senior Bowl. “Thank you to all the voters. The Senior Bowl impacted so much of my player career and set the stage for me to show the NFL personnel that I was ready for the NFL.”
Brooks was the defensive most valuable player in the 1995 Senior Bowl, leading the South team defense in a 14-7 win against the North all-star team at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, the game’s former home. He is the only Senior Bowl Defensive MVP that became enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Brooks was a first-round draft pick by the Bucs in the 1995 draft and played his entire career with the Bucs, helping lead the franchise to its first Super Bowl win in Super Bowl XXXVII on Jan. 26, 2003, against the Oakland Raiders.
While living in Tampa, where he is now vice president for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Brooks frequently returns to Pensacola for a variety of philanthropic efforts….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-legend-pensacola-native-derrick-101750061.html
Author : Pensacola News Journal
Publish date : 2024-02-03 10:17:50
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