Ethan Brooks

Who is Ethan Brooks?

Ethan Barbier Brooks is a former American football offensive tackle in the NFL who played for five different teams in a nine-year career.

He played defensive tackle for Division III Williams College, where he was a two-time all-conference player and NESCAC defensive player of the year as a senior.

Brooks grew up in Simsbury, Connecticut. He attended Westminster a small prep school in Simsbury with a poor football record while he was there. He was not noticed by Division I-A schools. He had opportunities to play with a scholarship at Division I-AA schools. His father Alan had gone to Wesleyan and was good enough to be invited to the Baltimore Colts training camp. When Ethan graduated, Williams had a better football team than Wesleyan and the other school of the "Little Three", Amherst, good enough to be a Division 3 "power". His father encouraged Ethan to go there for both football and academics.

Ethan Brooks had NFL aspirations even then and thought Division 3 ball would not be the best route to the NFL. He wanted to go to Bucknell which had a superior football program as a Division I-AA but was still a good academic school. However, he did not think he would be accepted at Williams. Although his academics were good for a football player they were low for Williams. Nevertheless, after consulting his father and friends, he went to Williams, where he stood out in the division for his size and skill. He played on very good teams as a defensive tackle and was spotted by NFL scouts. He was also an All-American in track and field in the hammer throw. His major was psychology. He was drafted in the 1996 7th round by Atlanta, coached by June Jones, as the 229th overall pick. He began as an offensive tackle but was moved back to defense due to team injuries and then placed back on the offensive line.