Versatile Brecht has several options

With Division I scholarships in multiple sports, Ankeny athlete Brody Brecht has a lot of options for his college future. We caught up with his head football coach, Rick Nelson, and talked to him about Brecht.

Q: How would you describe him overall as a football player?

NELSON: He started for us as a freshman and is just a great competitor. He understands coverages and our schemes. He is a leader in the weight room. He does everything right.

Q: What do you feel are his main strengths at this point?

NELSON: I just think his character. Wherever he goes, they are going to get a quality kid. He has gotten faster and will have a great track year. He is a great pitcher and threw 92 last year. He will have options that way and has been offered by schools in baseball. They were in the state tournament last year and I think they can do it again.

Q: What areas is he going to continue working on as he prepares for the rest of this season and beyond?

NELSON: It is going to be his speed. He is pretty strong for a tall, lengthy kid. He is pretty explosive, and we will continue to take care of that in the weight room. We will be doing different things with running so he’ll be doing that with us this winter.

Q: How did you use him on the field this season?

NELSON: We ran a lot of vertical stuff with him, RPOs, quick slants, and hitches. Teams started doubling him and that made it harder. We did some crossing route stuff with him trying to get him open in that way. We moved him around a lot and in motion. The one thing with this is that we had other kids with 30 catches, 25 catches, and 24 catches because they were doubling him. He was doubled in at least five of our games. The teams doubled him the whole game.

Q: How would you describe him as a leader?

NELSON: He is awesome. He was one of our captains. He is a vocal kid. Kids are looking up to him. He is a likable, young man.

Q: How did the Iowa staff find out about him as a recruit?

NELSON: Iowa and Iowa State always come by, whether we have kids or not at that level. They have known about him for two years. He might have gone to Iowa and Iowa State camps. Both schools do pretty good in-state trying to give these kids the first shot seeing if they can find something instead of having to go outside.

Q: What other colleges that are recruiting him haven’t offered him yet?

NELSON: Michigan State, Notre Dame, Northwestern, and K-State. That is about all I can think of right now. He has three offers from Nebraska, Iowa, and Iowa State.

Q: How was it working with the Iowa staff during the recruiting process?

NELSON: I’ve known those guys for 20 something years and they have been great. Coach Copeland is newer, but he is a super guy who has done a great job. He has come to a game and so has Ferentz.

Q: Do you know when he wants to decide?

NELSON: I don’t know. Recruiting is so much different than it was even five years ago. I don’t know if he’ll commit or wait until after baseball. He has been on all of the campuses and met all of the coaches. He hasn’t been around the players, so maybe that is his next step. He could get around the kids and see what fits him.