Bucky Brooks: Playing for Hall of Fame coaches, being the anti-hot taker, coaching with purpose

Ah, this is Leslie Frasier and this is the NFL Player's second Acts podcast.

Thank you for tuning in on Peanut too, man and.

With me as always, the Deacon.

Broman Harper, Thank you, thank you man that I'm doing good man, How are you doing today? I'm sure I love the energy that you're bringing today.

Yeah, a lot of energy. I'm actually confused.

I won't say our guest name yet, but he always calls me some kind of random name, and so now that he's just being normal, I appreciate it. So thank you for being normal out here in the LA Studios, the NFL Studios.

This is a beautiful place. There is this. Whoever built this was on top of it.

I've actually think that they have spent over a million dollars in chairs alone in this building.

Chairs are nice.

My back feels good. Laura Lombards there it is all right. So all right, before we get all we dive into it.

Here we go.

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Peanut. Who's our guest today? All right?

Today's guest was drafted in the second round by the Buffalo Bills and the ninety four draft. Played five seasons for five different teams as a dB, the best position on the field and returner. After playing at the NFL, he was a scout for a number of teams and.

Now he has.

An seeing amount of jobs. And we'll get into that, but I want, I want to install introduce y'all to Bucky Brooks. Welcome to the show, My guys, going life comes, life comes full circle because I just remember in meeting rooms having to do reports and talk about you guys as a cross checker when you guys were in your respective schools and coming out and trying to.

Make your way into the league. And there here I am.

You guys became great NFL players and then we're kind of sharing sharing a Mike.

Sorry what I wanted? Oh go ahead, you want? Can

So unfortunately, like for both of you guys, you weren't in my area when you came out.

Your draft year.

What year was, I'm three, so three, So I was still working with the Carolina Now I was working with the Seattle Seahawks. And the guy who was in your area, John Peterson, Boy, he loves some peanut man, Oh my god. All he talked about was this daddy, you play please all these other things.

And so oh your year, Roaman was winning two thousand and five.

Six.

Yeah, so I got drafted in six. Okay, so we had we were in Alabama, so we had.

Mutual friends because you were with like Bill Johnson, Pat Dick. Bill Johnson is like one of my closest friends. Oh yeah, so I knew, like even before scouting you, I knew who you were because Bill and I go way way way back to singing Jacksonville or whatever, and so like, it's funny because both of you guys have similar traits in terms of it was always high iq known for the game. Behind the scenes, the study habits were good.

At safety.

It was about the game was changing, where we were losing some of the distinction between free and strong.

And could you do both? And could you win a quarter system? Play down? But could you also play high?

And so having all those things, and then because of my experience going from me in a wide receiver to a dB, I always pay close attention to DB's and like you find yourself when you're scouting, you're not supposed to look at all the techniques and tools be like, okay, could I play.

With these guys?

Right?

Because that always to me is the last question. Could I line up in the whodle? What I want those guys to be in the hardle with me? And so I remember both of you guys very very well about.

Look at that.

Well, here I got a personal question. Is because you

You a real government name?

Though?

Oh no one, nobody, nobody, Like I know, you don't know me if you call me by my government name. I know you don't know, and like people gonna be up here, Like, I'll tell it. My real name is William Eldridge Brooks Junior. So but you guys know I'm from the South. Yeah, so when you're South, everyone has a nickname because my cousins in them William Eldridge with different last names and so everybody had an nickname. So I got cousins and all that or whatever. My dad

Oh, I'm marrid with it. Hey, I'm lead up.

My older brother, his name is Doug. I'm from my dad looked Donald. I'm her name tiny. Like we just come from a house of nicknames. So hey, I'll tell you on that.

Like I get it.

I gets it.

Hey, I get the whole government thing. Man. So, uh, what I really want to know is you are a

And what I mean by that is you you have a couple of podcasts. You are analysts for NFL Network, You host Move the Sticks podcast, you do some stuff for Fox how many jobs do you Oh, I even believe you're a coach.

Oh yeah, so.

Oh we don't turn down anything.

Okay, so that's it. Though it's paying.

I'm playing explain, explain to explain to the viewers how many jobs you have?

Like it it varies.

So the main hub is like obviously NFL Media is the main gig Radio on Fox. I contributed to some other platforms as a writer in those things, but like that's kind of the way of the new world. Like when I originally entered the media world Got two thousand and seven, it was about trying to find one spot and you did it. But now you've seen it, like you have to be able to do more to kind of kind of piece it together. And exclusivity is kind of a thing of the past when it comes to

Were you always a really good writer or did you always just read a lot?

Like you imagine?

Okay, So, like imagine when we go to college, right, you know, when you go to college and like they take they give you like the exams in the middle of training camp, right like where they at North Carolina, they did the placement exams in the middle of two a days, so like, hey, this is your English, this is your dad. So I was in like bad English because I was like just trying to get through the

That is awesome.

I didn't think like the whole journey and using the power of the pen is amazing to hear like a former football player talk about it and use those skills, especially now trying to knock at Chapel Hills, a highly regarded institution.

As far as education is the best ever, Yes, yes it is. I hear about it all the time. Somehow throw they talk about it. I don't have to talk about Alabama. I mean, if we want to talk about sports, it's not even close. But as far as education, that's all you hear about is Chapel Hill. We talk about football. We talk about sports. Now you got to come see us. We got all of that stuff, you do, you know,

Yeah, we played them in the Gator Ball.

Not a man throwback.

All right, So all these jobs, all these things, So

Like what is a typical week for Bucky Books? It all kind of works together, or you don't sleep. Because I'm a guy I can do with like four or five.

I can with a little bit, but it all works together.

So during this season, it's not as heavy for me when it comes to NFL network and TV stuff like podcasts three times a week. May occasionally pop on a show like Total Access or something like that, but primarily it's just podcasting and in writing. I'll write a couple of times a week. That's when high school football is heavy. In head coach of a school there, so we practice before school, So we practice at six am. We go

I mean, but that's because that's the background.

So the background is like I was a college scout, so I would go and look at college players and then we'll rank them and draft them and evaluate them, put them on the board for the draft and those things. For me, you're always paying attention to the college game.

Like I do work.

I do sideline work for the Jacksonville Jaguars radio and so when I'm on the road on a Saturday night, like you pop in TV, you see what's going on, but you also have your tape available.

And then as it gets closer to the end of the season.

When you begin to get the names you begin to hear from your scouting buddies who are in the league. Hey, hear the names that you need to watch, and then you begin to like kind of really do a deep dive into these are the guys that we really need to know. And you see, because you guys do it in the mediate world, like you kind of play the hits, like you're talking about the top guys every day, and

Are a coach, you have this responsibility to teach young men about life the game itself, but you're.

Teach them about life.

You're teaching them about hard work, teamwork, how to grind, how to work together, how to overcome obstacles, failures, and whatnot. What's really been the most gratifying job for you out

All of them are gratifying in a different way. But I would say high school because you guys know, like there's always been a coach that's somewhere along the line that touched you in a different way, either change your path or he gave you the confidence that, hey man, you can do this.

Yep. And so for me, high school gives me the opportunity to do that.

I coach at the public school up in the northern part of LA And it's just great to see all these dudes, right because, like, I don't care what anyone says, like, there's nothing that is like playing. There's no replicating like running through the tunnel, feeling all that they gladiated mentality. The only thing to me that's close to that is coaching, and I can't do it anymore, but I can live through.

Watching them do.

So if we're talking about we're a team to play a lot of man to man, but we're like, hey man, look if they get in this bunch, we're gonna bando it and you go, he's going to throw it and it just don't blow the layup. And when they do it, you come out of your shoes just like you would as a player if we're teammates and you get a

Because how you do anything is how you do everything.

And you give them those little things that coaches that poured into you and then you see them take it. And then I think the thing and it happens with our kids whatever when you hear them say stuff that you said to them to their teammates, like little guys that come in like, oh man, you got to take care of the details and all that other stuff. That's when you're got oh okay, Yeah, that part to me

You know.

I think it's so interesting you say that because my dad was a high school coach and he coached me my first couple of years in high school. And I used to ask them like that, why do you coach? Like these kids can't do this?

You're yelling all like you're up for all these hours, like why, And it was the same example that you just gave you, Like, it's something to be said when you have a guy walk in here as a freshman, can't even can barely tie shoes, put his pads on backwards, and you look up two or three years later and he's playing, Like I have shaped this kid into a player, and I can trust him to like not mess it up.

He's gonna be able to tackle somebody. And you get excited for these things. And so that's the real joy of coaching high school football that I don't think anybody really understands, no until.

You do it.

Yeah, So that to me, that was always that was always the level I always want to be at. Right, I didn't have an aspiration to coach like a high level because in high school, most HIG schools, unless you're a private HIG school, I mean you coach, you coach up who shows up? So and so, Like when they come through the door, you're like, whoa, we don't have a quarterback.

You know what we're gonna do.

We're gonna jump into single wing thing and try and figure it out or whatever it is like and so oh man, they really don't understand how to plays. So so you know what we're gonna do. Hey man, that's your man. That cat is your cat. Wherever you go, you go, like and so you you like, to me, that's the beauty of high school ball, Like you just you never know what it's gonna.

Look like and then you try and figure out. All right, guys, like this is what we got.

We have one defensive man and you know, so to me, that's that's the beauty of high school.

And that's why I have so much respect for high school.

And also to attest to that, your past year, you win,

Obviously, I think that's a benefit to you though in a testment that he you're such like, you know what.

We're gonna do. Whatever works.

It is so and you're not just stuck in your waist because you hadn't been coaching with thirty five years. Oh so, here's just funny. And it goes back to when I was working with the Carolina Panthers. You can look this up. It's really funny. So we had to play against the Atlanta Falcons. Huh, starting quarterback Jake the Loman is out. Chris Winky is a quarterback. I don't know if John Fox had a lot of confidence in Chris will So we lined up with D'Angelo Williams and

So then I was like, oh, well, you know what, like sometimes.

You just whatever you do, you do whatever you gotta do, yeah, and get out of it. But those are the things that you do and in high school, like you have to like just take what you're given and kind of figure out a way to make it work.

I love that. I do too.

I don't think we had that in Texas. We always had some some good talent coming through them doors of copperce Cove.

So tell me, all right, so what's the transition like being from all right, you were in the scouting world. Now you're on the opposite side of it covering it as an analyst. How have the relationships of the people that you worked with? Has that changed or has it been kind of remained the same or do they respect to the same, Like, because you got to tell it honestly, you win, it wouldn't keep the job. And when you're honest, like.

You guys know because I've seen both of you guys on TV, so y'all know, like when you come off to sitting off a sudden, your phone is buzzing because when you dude, like come on now, you know, I got to play TV. So like, so like I gotta sell and I gotta sell it in a major way. But it's actually been great because what happens is your boys, your guys who are like you're really like that you're.

Down with, they'll call you, they'll give you the information.

Yeah, that's very true. Here's what school on this. Because they want you to look good and they beam when they see you on TV because they're like, hey, man, look at you all up.

Your fancy you know, but but they dig it.

They actually are pride for when they see you do your thing because you know what the locker room is like, like really at his core, we really care about it, even though the pros are kind of weird because like we're all kind of independent contract. When you're on great teams, you really still have that same camaraderie. Feel doubt little league and high school or whatever where like man, it's about your boy getting off and we all we do well as a group, everyone gets off. So for me,

We're talking about a decision that was made.

We're talking about a player that was picked in those things, and you try to like have a critical eye like hey, well maybe they're thinking this and those things. And for me it is worth because most of the guys, even if they don't agree with my opinion, they can be like, Okay.

I get that.

It's just when if you go sideways and I've never been like a hot take artist, but if you go sideways where you're trying to embellish it and blow it up, that's when you're like, come on, man, what are we doing. But most of the time people can respect it and they're like, oh, okay, I get that. Now when you got out, you got right into the scouting. Now, why

What they say, you're a coach. It's not about like if it's when you're gonna get fired.

Right, So imagine, like I mean we all have kids, Like, imagine you don't want to take your kids like every two years bounce them around or whatever. So for me, I was like, all right, Like the scouting thing at the time was supposed to be the more stable environment of that, So you're still close to the game in a different way than coaching. Now there's still nothing like coaching them playing are like the two things, cause you get looked. There's a scoreboard when you're scouting. You don't

Just get one, And so I called one of my boys.

He was working with the Philadelphia Eagles, and he was like, yeah, I ain't got nothing for years player, but there may be a job that opens up as scout.

And so I was prepping to get ready for an interview.

There called another one of my guys and he had just got a gig and see yeall, he'said, why don't you come.

Up here and interview. I wanted to an interview and never left, you know. So that's that's how I played that.

But the same thing, those those relationships and as a player, because I'm sure you guys did it as players. You let people know what you would like that transition to be for you after football is done. Cause I'm sure coaches or people around caming, hey, man, what do you want to do when football was over? And I want to coach? I want to do this on scout. And so I let people know what my intentions were. And then it just so happened that I got.

You gotta go ahead.

No, No, I could guess I'd like something just hitting my yeah brain, I gotta I.

Guess my question. Another question that I have is, so Chris Ballad was my scout. Yeah, and I brag on Chris Ballad every time because we talk.

We're good friends.

And he was like, man, I'll fault Jerry Angelo tooth and nail to take you second round. I know you didn't have the name, but I was like, I'm telling you, Peanut or Charles Tillman, he's going to be the guy.

Blah blah blah blah blah.

Has there been a player that you scouted in college that you were just like, Nope, this is the guy. He can be X Y and Z, he will be a great player. Is there a guy in your when you were scouting.

I think we all have guys that we love.

Sometimes you're not in a position to take the player that you want for that team, but there are certain guys that you like gravitate towards. So I remember watching Steve Smith, who works with us here, but I remember watching him at Utah, and I remember watching him in the All Star game circuit that we that guys do like after their senior year.

This dude was dominant Hula Bowl.

He was killing the East weatight, So you're just like, man, this dude is like a dude.

But he wasn't a prototypical size at the time because he's like, look, he's five nine.

He made list five to ten, but was.

He hits it now? He hits it now like he was five nine and he was a returner.

And so sometimes that can be a hard sale to say that, hey man, this dude is a returner, but like he can be a wide out to so watching him and then when I left Seattle to go there and watch him grow from being a Pro Bowl kick returner as a rookie to then being a guy that won the Triple Crown and become a multiple time Pro Bowl player and wide receiver. Those are the things that you're like, Okay, this is cool, Like that's it's great

Peanut.

Now I literally wrote just about that same question now

Knowing that you had just come from playing.

Were you overconfident with like, man, I know this, and all of a sudden I was wrong and I was like, man, maybe I need to go back to the drawing board on some of my process.

So it's funny because what happens is as a player, and you'll see this, like as you're around teams and those things. I know you guys are around teams. Sometimes they're not a lot of former players in the scouting department, and there can be a different rub because sometimes as players we may fall into these stereotypes. Right, players are codd old players. I don't know if they can do the grind on them to get on it this and that.

Knew how hard the game is.

Yeah, you know what I'm saying, like, no, yeah, man, like that that's a hard play. Coach, Like that's a hard Like that's hard you acting like now, yeah, that's a hard play.

They coming down the screen.

My man ain't got a reroute number.

One, I'm on the hash every way go.

He's coming right at me. What am I doing?

They fit it in the honey hole, and you're mad at me because I can't get over there, like being able to understand that part of it. Yeah, And I think what happens is because you come off the field, you may feel like you know it and you should always feel good about it, but you also have to put the study behind that stuff. But I think the advantage that you have we all play with great players. So for instance, I think in my past I'm now up to like maybe seventeen Hall of Fame teammates, right.

So I think, to me, it gave me a leg a. So what have you learned in the game?

As far as you know, you talked about all these these these players that you played with, some good coaches that you played for. What's been one of the best lessons that you've learned with with all of the players and coaches.

So I think, I think from every coach that you play with, you learn different things. So every coach that I played with is either in the Hall of Fame or Super Bowl champion. And the one exception is Marty Shotenham who won two hundred games. So Marv Leav's in the Hall of Fame, Mike home Wren will be or should be Mike Holren talking to Tom Coughlin, John Grutin.

So all these guys learn great things.

And so what I learned is they all went about their different their business in different ways, but they all kind of came back to the same thing. Man, It's all about the preparation and it's about ultimately do you perform and the lights come on. Like we can talk about all of it, but at the end of the day, you got to prepare. But when the lights come on, you got to show up. And that's just what it is.

Still gotta go out there and do it.

Still got to make the play. And so to me, that's what it is, and that's what you're trying to young people. Hey man, do all the work and do it. But I always feel like the one thing, if I could go back as a player, I might have been scared to pour the trick. And so what I would always encourage people, Man, take the shot, you know what I'm saying, Like there are times where and I go back and I always said, it's like we're playing in San Francisco.

Forty nine is in a preseason game.

But I studied the tape and every time Jerry Rice lined up at the top of the numbers when the ball was there, it was one hundred of speed out And so we get there. I'm like, man, there's the tail, the boss right there. Let's just like you like, like I do I go? It's Jerry Rice, right, So then you don't go, but you like, that's to play. But then I played with guys because in college, Dre Black came right behind me.

Yeah, Drey jumped everything.

He's going like if if over there, he's going, and I was like I would, I'm like, I'm gone, And so safety help does matter. But that was Dre and so that is the thing. And so I tell people. But if you do all that and you trust it, you go with And as a coach, I always said, I want to give you the freedom to do it. So I'm not going to jump you like. That's why we talk about having a mentor and having that right coach, because.

The right coach, I tell you, yes, I got yeah, trust your keys.

And then because you were safe in your corner, we know the inner game is that I'm gonna look at hey, are he gone? I'm gone, He's But that's but that's the thing where in the fraternity you know that, Yes, that's how we play where someone gets a players because like hey man, hey cover me, I'm going.

Give me.

That's that's the communication all the time, Like you did that with jour Are the whole time fifteen because I was with j No everything all the time.

We changed our whole defense.

We went from straight quarters to now we're allowing now with the corners allowed to jump anything.

To the flat, we're over the top. All the time they were like so anybody repalmed, were not even be rep. We're doing palms the.

Whole back half of the season because jay No is just like he going And so for those listen, the palm technique is when the two goes out in the corner just jumps yeah to anything out to the flat by the second receiver that side. The corners are going to jump it, and now the safety has to go over the top. So I'm covering number two and then until it goes out. Now I'm trying to bust over before there's a big honey hall. So yes, that was it,

Which one's the hardest to play for?

Okay, because uh, I apologize to him after I played for him. So Tom Coughlin, Yeah, so Tom Coughlin, you apologize.

I apologize because Tom he was tough.

So so when I go to Jacksonville, So you got to understand, I go from playing with the Green Bay Packers. We had come off of a Super Bowl appearance and they were going right back to Now I go to Jacksonville, who's like in their second year as an expansion franchise in Green Bay, like they're winning. He comes from San Francisco, so everything not only his first class, but it's like it's like VET Central, meaning like now I'm a young player,

Everybody had to have on the same shorts.

We're doing this.

He's looking if you got those little ankle socks. He's like, those are issued. Fine, you you go on all yeah, you go on the road when we So we're in the hotel. So we're in the hotel, like, look, okay, we'll be suitting and booted on the plane.

I can relax.

We got sweat.

Oh, if you're out the hotel room, you gotta have on khakis and hard bottom shoot and a collar shirt.

So I'm sitting there, I'm like, what are we doing?

Like, and what year is this for you? This is year three or four? Okay, but I'm sitting here like what do we do? And when I first got it, we getting drummed.

I'm like, we're doing it. They say we're not even winning. It's not.

So we do we go to the playoffs or whatever.

So years later I finished and I started coaching high school. And so the high school one went to, all these dudes would come out for work up and they got on different colors.

You got on green. The school coach is blue and gold.

You got on green, you got on rid.

Then looked like it don't look.

Like a team. So then I see Coughlin at the combine. I said, Coach, I got it.

Now, I get why you did all that because it was driving me crazy. But he was the one that was the hardest to play for it because he had all these rules, and I was like, these rules, the rules makes sense. But he was a great coach, and he figured it out for real when he got to New York because all those things you got people there. They swear by him, They swear by him and the tough love and all that other stuff. For me, I was a little immature. I couldn't figure it all the

Yeah, I had I had a friend of mine that actually had him at Boston College when he was in college. He was like, dude, the dude was tough, like like got to be there five minutes early.

Like it was like he was.

Like he was like, you know, my family had an accident.

He's like coach. I don't know if guy might be a little bit late. He was like late, like won't be here.

It's like like no excuses, and so it just kind of some people don't ever change. And you know he's actually thankful for him now. Yeah, like some of the things like is that so the funny thing is you're lab ye had a high school day? No five minutes or hey if.

You like, so if you don't tell me at eleven, it really started ten fifty five. So my thing was always that coach, Well, if you wanted to meet and started six fifty five, just tell me six to fifty five. That tell me seven o'clock. But you want me here six fifty five, Like, just tell me the time. And I get the same complaints from the kids. I'm like, and no, we started at five fifty five.

Like you know what it is.

Yeah, so you've you've had successful you know, media, you're killing it right now. The scouting, his team's killing it too. When he killing it with the with the offense. Mount Rushmore, who would you put on that personal Mount Rushmore of mentors, coaches,

So first personal Mount Rushmore will be my dad.

Yeah.

So my dad is a retired firefighter, but he also was a coach.

He coached Dexter Lawrence in high school. He's a D line coach.

They won I think forty five games in a row after decks, but they want to stay title. So I get him on. He's on my head every day about coaching. What are you doing, how you doing or whatever? He goes he coaches in your blood. Yeah, so he goes there. Mac Brown, my college coach, goes there because from coach Brown, I learned the art of how you treat people. Like if you want people to play at the first class level, you got to treat them.

He hands out to Mac Brown. Amazing human being. I mean this dude could sell water and.

Unbelievable communicator, like seeing that if he met you, he would meet you five years down from he would know what's that first conversation with him. He's that and it's a gift that he has. So he was he was always that, I would say from a player, the guy who helped me the most, James Hasty was an all pro corner when I was there, and so when I

So that's how that was.

So Hasty said, no, here's what you're going to You can come here on Tuesday at eight o'clock. I'm gonna come in at nine o'clock. By nine o'clock, you're gonna have a report written on the number one receiver that we're playing. But what he did is he was teaching me how to prep and get ready, yeah to play. And so James Hasty would be there and then I would say, like, the last guy like in terms of like a personal mentor would be Charles Davis. So Charles

Oh, he could do anything. He called golf.

He can call baseball and call football like he's your lifeline if you're on a trivia show and you need something who knows random facts.

CD has always been that guy.

Well, you know he's good. He was on that. That's my guy. Yeah, he's my guy.

Well, hey, buggy, we appreciate you coming down. We got like a thousand more courses, but you got seventy two jobs and we know you busy.

Man. Hey, I just gotta go to work. Mine, gotta go to work mine.

Yeah, man, you know what it is.

I appreciate it. It's been great granks, man, but appreciate it. Man. Thank you so much.

Man.

All of our followers and listeners out there, Man, continue to do that. Man, We'll continue to bring you great guests. I'm on man, Bucky Books right here, and thank you so much. Give us a rating of review wherever you pick up your.

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Baby, were out of here. Hey I'm Peanut. That's wrong, that's Bucky. This is the NFL Player Second Act Podcast from the LA Studios

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