Behind the Facemask: Brandon Washington
July 6, 2011
CORAL GABLES, Fla.–No dream comes true without sacrifice and these young men have worked to make their dream of playing at the U come true. Here are the men behind the sacrifice…
Brandon Washington | Offensive Line | Junior | Miami, Fla.
Playing football has given me great character. It helped me look at life a different way. It helps you in so many ways, my personality, my temper, and being a role model for those who need it.
You have to watch every move, especially at the college level of your career. You have to protect the team, protect the university, but most of all, protect yourself. You have to try and be on top of your “A” game with everything you do. Somebody could stereotype me real easily, with my background and my race, but when you go converse with me, I’m always smiling, a wonderful person to be around.
My favorite midnight snack , with these new workout plans, would be an apple with a teaspoon of peanut butter.
My favorite song right now is “Hustle Hard” by Ace Hood. I remix the words though, and just changed it to “Play Hard.”
I can’t count how many shoes I own, I own a lot. My mom gets mad. It could be a pair I wore, but I don’t repeat them much, so when she sees them she’ll yell, “Why did you get another new pair?” I can’t even guess how many I have. My car’s full, under my bed, and my closet too. I’ve got all kinds of shoes. I have a lot of dress shoes, I’m trying to pick that up more, because you’re getting at the time in your career when you want to wear a shirt and tie and look professional wherever you go. I’m trying to put down the Jordans and Nikes but it’s hard. I’ll have to have a yard sale to save some money.
I’m a Hurricane because it’s all I knew growing up. In Miami, the Hurricanes and Florida didn’t play as much, but as far as the Florida State rivalry, that’s all you know when you’re young. You come inside from playing, and the whole family is watching the game, you ask, “What y’all watching?” and someone will yell back, “Boy you don’t know what this is? This is Florida State/Miami!”
I had my four months up in New York. That was my first time away from family, and I wanted to be back home. That time of the year, it was rough. That really made me dig deep and find myself. That really made me appreciate life and gave me a different outlook on life. I appreciated everything. I live by that code, “when you think you got it bad, somebody else has it worse.” It was an all-boys school, I was away from my mom, I didn’t like the food, didn’t like the weather. I thought I was living in hell.
I wanted to graduate with my class but at the same time I appreciated it because I came here with a purpose. I would have laid down here and waited, but instead I came here and wanted revenge, I wanted to show Coach Shannon I was ready and that I didn’t have to go to that prep school. It helped me a lot on both sides of the ball. I felt like I had something to prove, my teammates already had a year here, so I would catch back up with them.
My favorite thing about being part of the U family is that you don’t have to pick and choose who you share things with. Everyone’s here for you, everyone’s trying to help the best way they can.
At the U, I’ve learned so much from Jason Fox. He was a senior when I was a freshman. Orlando Franklin pushed me and put fear in my heart, he made me work harder. Joel Figueroa and guys like that kept me intact. He’s been here for six years and I can appreciate what I’ve learned from him.
I’ve also learned a lot from Sean Spence. Playing a season with him in high school and the transition, they came in spring and they were hurting. They weren’t liking it but they stuck at it. When I’m at my best, he comes at me and tries to get me to push harder. I watch the whole team and I wonder how these guys do it. It helps me. It pushes me.
Sean Spence doesn’t do too much yelling. The most I’ve ever heard of him say is “flip the switch, we’re getting beat!” in practice. He calls the plays, he tells the defensive linemen where to line up, that’s the most he does. The guy is so fast; I have to be a student of the game on both sides. I have to know how he plays and I need to know when to get off the block. I can’t touch the down linemen as much because I don’t want Sean to make the play. I know he’s smart, he’s quick, and he has got a nose for the ball. I’m always watching him. He’s amazing.
Other than football, I’m talented at basketball. I love basketball. I grew up watching Dirk Nowitzki, and I never had a set team in the NBA. Since I’m from Miami, I always like the home team, baseball, ice hockey, football, whatever, but I usually just root for individual players.
One thing that everyone should know about Miami football is that it’s got the best talent. Not to brag or boast about it, but it shows, time after time, that some of the greatest athletes come out of Miami. As far as Miami Hurricanes football goes, one thing you should know is that this year is going to be our year. We’re not giving Coach Golden three or four years, we want to turn this program around now. We respect him for coming in and respecting our mindset, that we want it right now.
I’m not sure who I would want to play me in a movie. I have to find a handsome, young chubby guy who’s always smiling (laughs).
My superhero name would be Dark Knight and my superpower would be to feed off negativity and help others. Negativity would boost me up.
The song no one would believe I have on my iPod is “They Don’t Really Care About Us” by Michael Jackson. I listen to it a lot, those are some powerful lyrics. My favorite line is “if Martin Luther was living, it wouldn’t be this way.”
One thing no one can believe about me is that I can play all positions. Wide receiver, running back, all of them. I wouldn’t try now, because I’m stationed at offensive line, but I can catch, throw, run, I have vision. I always catch myself doing a skill like that. If I’m jogging around the weight room trying to get to another station, and there might be guys standing in between, I’ll do a cut and kick back and say “I feel like Lamar Miller” or “I feel like Mike James.” I’m always throwing the ball with Jacory Harris, giving him jogging routes. No one knows I’m athletic as I am, I wish I could show it. I may not be as fast as Travis Benjamin or LaRon Byrd, but I can catch a pass and run routes. It might not be as precise, but you have to give me a break at 300 pounds (laughs).
People might be surprised to know that I just want to be great. I want to leave behind a legacy that I worked hard, I was focused on my goals, I kept my eyes on the prize, and that I really wanted to be something. It’s not that I want to be a top pick in the NFL Draft, I just want to be great. I just want to be somebody that someone can come and talk to about anything and give them different advice on life, and help them be good at whatever they want to do.
If I could spend a day with anyone, it would be, well how I’m feeling, it would be LeBron James. I really wish I could tell LeBron how I really feel (laughs). Editor’s note: This interview was conducted during the NBA Finals.
Seriously though, if I could spend a full day with someone, from breakfast to dinner, it would be my father. I never really got one of those days. I met him at 14, I felt like I was not grown, but I had the things I needed to know in life. When I saw him, we spoke, but we really need some catching up to do. He helped give birth to me, so I’m not one of those people to say “I have no daddy” or anything like that. I just want to do some catching up with him. I wanted him there; I told him I would give him tickets to the games. My door’s always open to him. I would love to spend a full day with my dad. He actually caught three or four games last season. When he came to the locker room afterwards I saw how proud he was, I’m sure it was eating him up at how he wasn’t there for me before. I didn’t have to invite him there, but he knew I wanted him to be. I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to cry. We ate lunch, we hung out after, and he told me he wanted to come to another one. I was happy for him to be there. We never had anyone to go to games with, and I got the opportunity to show my family a different world, so that keeps me going.
I was raised in Miami, Florida. I was raised in the Overtown area that some might call the roughest neighborhood in Overtown–it’s called the Swamp. I have no idea why it’s called that, but it’s the name we ran with when we were kids. We were growing up and doing the things young men do. Right now I can’t say that all of us have been successful. Some were shot dead, some have kids, and some are in jail. I just thank God that He saw different in me and stuck me to a different path and had a different blueprint for me to follow. I ride through there when I go see my mom and I stop and honk my horn and we exchange “hellos” with some of the people that are still there. I try not to spend too much time there, because I have no business other than my mom’s house, and I know she’d be upset. My mom says focus on winning an ACC Championship for my team, and they’d be pissed if I got in any trouble over there. I just try to keep attached and let them know I’m not Hollywood, but I need them to respect what I want to get done. So far, those guys have been doing that, they tell me they understand. My family questioned my mom when they moved over there, and told her your boys aren’t going to amount to anything. They thought we would be in jail the next month and wouldn’t make it out, that we would start selling drugs. I don’t think any of us ever did. My family always had something to prove, and we proved it. My sister’s in the Opa-Locka area, my oldest brother is in Liberty City, my other brother is helping my mom at home, and my younger brother just graduated from high school.
The most influential person in my life is my mother. For what she did, raising five kids as a single parent, I rarely saw my mom. I stayed with my grandmother for four or five years, until my mom got on her feet. When I was about 12, my mom used to work from six in the morning until one in the morning. My sister took actions in her own hands like she was mama. The only time I saw my mom would be when my mom would call us to tell us she was on her way home, so we would run around like little rascals picking up the house and all that, cause we knew she would be tired and that she had to be awake in a few more hours to do it all again. The things she did for us, it was questions where our next meal would come from, if we could get something for the holidays, and she would make those things come true. I owe it all to my mother. The things she did, and how she did them, I’m just amazed by the things she did just to keep us happy.
The best advice I ever got was to do all you can to stay healthy. Everyone knows I can play the game, so they just try to get me to prevent injuries. I walk, jog, sleep right, eat right, work on flexibility and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since last season. I don’t want to get this far just to fall on an injury. I’ve got some great wisdom from some great guys, but the best one is to prevent injuries.
When I played football when I was younger, I pretended to be Peter Warrick, who used to play wide receiver at Florida State. He was flashy, quick, and I was a little chubby kid doing the same thing he was doing. I taught all my friends how to shake, make moves, catch; everyone wanted to be on my team.
My first time putting on a helmet was my freshman year of high school, around 2004. It was hell. That was the worst thing, next to school in New York. I didn’t know how to put my pads on, my helmet was so tight. I thought football wasn’t for me. I worked at it and stayed at it.
I never thought I would get the opportunities that I’ve gotten. Coming from that rough neighborhood, I remember it being hard to sleep and hard to focus. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon. My mom only had one job and I had no father figure. My first pair of name- brand shoes was a pair of Shawn Kemp Reeboks and then a pair of Adidas; it was hard for my mom to buy a pair of Nikes. I remember in fourth or fifth grade, we went to Foot Locker and I picked up a pair of Kevin Garnett’s, and she said she wouldn’t buy them for me, but I refused to pick another pair of shoes, I was being stubborn. We ended up leaving the store without any shoes, but after she dropped us off at home, she went back later and woke me up the next morning with the shoes. She had me open the shoe box. When I opened that box, I jumped up, brushed my teeth, ironed my clothes, walked to school, I was so excited I wore those shoes every day and she would make sure that I didn’t play in them. I’m just thankful for the opportunity that I got here to change my life around.
I did an internship which I still attend called Empower You. It’s basically a group of guys, a bunch of young men, who have been criminalized and feel like they can’t do much to change their life because of their record. I was able to tell my story and show that I was no different from them; I just never got caught for my wrong doings. I felt like God had something different for me. I felt that earlier too at the age of 12 or 13 that this was not what God had planned for me. I started getting in trouble and then started focusing more. My cousin used to tell me to read a book or do this and do that, and I didn’t want to. But when my friends would ask me to go to the pool or go play basketball, I used to tell them to wait because I had to read a chapter first, or read a book first. I always did what my cousin told me. I never knew I would make it this far.
When I first came to Miami, coming from that prep school, I felt like it was not what I envisioned for myself when I was 13, this can’t be it. I got to my dorm room, four walls, and I cried nights and said to myself “Man, I’m here now.” But I got here, and I met Coach Swasey, and I learned that no one wants a handout and you have to work for it. It just wasn’t what I thought it was going to be and I had to make another transition. I was out of shape, overweight, and I met this little guy Swasey who I knew I had to utilize as much as I could. He’s a great guy.
Make sure to check in for a new Behind the Facemask profile each and everyday in preparation for the Hurricane football season opener. For a review of all past profiles, check out Behind the Facemask Central.
