From Gateway water boy to Penn State star, Jaquan Brisker ready for the NFL
Share this post:
Sometimes, Jaquan Brisker inserted himself into practice drills at Gateway High School, inching as close to the varsity football team — and his brothers — as a 12-year-old boy could get.
Other times, he was quick to provide relief, producing a cold drink of water for the tired and thirsty players.
Today, no one is surprised by what will happen next for Brisker, the former Penn State safety. After plenty of hard work and durability on multiple fronts, Brisker is likely to be a first- or second-day choice in the NFL Draft, starting Thursday night.
“He was always an athletic kid and a kid who wanted to be around football,” said Terry Smith, Gateway’s coach at the time. “He would come to practice with his older brothers and just help out, just be around, be a sponge. You love football when you’re just hanging around it all day, every day.”
A few years later, Brisker’s love for the game carried him onto the Gateway varsity, where he was a three-year letterwinner, two-time captain and such a threat with a football in his hands — he returned five punts for touchdowns in one season — that coach Don Holl told his staff, “This is a focal-point guy we’re going to involve in everything.”
Life wasn’t always easy for Brisker, however. So close to his parents and brothers, he suffered a tragic setback in 2015 when his brother, Tale’, was shot and killed in Prairie View, Texas, at the age of 19. Tale’, Shawn and Jaquan all played football at Gateway.
“He had a tough upbringing,” said Smith, whose wife and daughter were clients of Brisker’s mother, Mijohni, a hair stylist. “But his family has always been there. He lived with a different family part of the time through his high school career, and it has helped shape him. It’s helped mold him.”
Said Brisker: “Living with my father, he was working and things like that so he couldn’t (always) be home.”
He said his situation helped him “grow up fast and be an adult.”
“It taught me to handle my responsibilities, take care of school, take care of football, and then, everything else will fall into place,” he said.
Smith, who is now Penn State’s associate head coach/cornerbacks and defensive recruiting coordinator, said the Nittany Lions staff followed Brisker through high school, but he didn’t qualify academically.
Instead, Brisker went to Lackawanna College and was a standout safety during the 2017 and ’18 seasons.
Holl called Brisker’s highlight tape at Lackawanna “ridiculous.”
“He really tore it up there,” he said.
Named an NJCAA All-America in 2018, Brisker started attracting attention from Power 5 schools.
“Jaquan could have basically gone to any school in the country,” Smith said. “Alabama came in on him and many other big-time schools.
“Everything is paying off for him. He’s getting ready to reap the rewards of some hard work. He’s come here to Penn State humble. Obviously, he’s a tremendous talent on the field, and he’s a great young man, as well.”
At Penn State, Brisker became a leader off the field, a player who was quick to answer questions from younger athletes. On the field, he has shown the versatility the NFL covets: He can play strong and free safety and slot corner.
At 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, he has the physicality to venture into the box and provide solid run defense. He is the third Penn State defensive back since 2000 to record 5½ tackles for loss in a season. He also is a student of the game. His late interception and 41-yard return from the Penn State 2 saved a 16-10 victory at Wisconsin in the 2021 opener.
“It was a pure read. It was instinct. It was all him,” Smith said. “He made the play. It was a spectacular play, but we’ve come to see that from him the last few years.”
Smith said when the NFL scouts showed up asking questions at Penn State’s Pro Day, he merely told the truth.
“Jaquan is easy to describe,” Smith said. “He’s mild-mannered. He sticks to himself. He’s not caught up in the nightlife. He doesn’t party or go out. He loves football, and he wants to play football, and he wants to be great at it.”
When he is drafted, Brisker will become the sixth Gateway graduate to earn that distinction, joining Bob Buczkowski (1986), Joel Williams (1987), Justin King (2008), Montae Nicholson (2017) and Smith (1992), who was a wide receiver at Penn State. Offensive lineman Robert Hainsey, a third-round selection of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year, attended Gateway through his sophomore year before matriculating to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
“We’re praying (he’s picked in the first round),” Smith said. “You never know how the draft is. On some NFL boards, he’s the first safety. On some NFL boards, he’s the fourth safety. He’s in between, as well. Just a matter of who likes him.”
The only certainty: “He’s getting ready to reap the rewards of some hard work,” Smith said.
“I always told my parents,” Brisker said, “’As long as I get there, I’m going to handle the rest.’ I remember saying it when I was little, just because I love the game of football so much. As a kid, I really, truly thought I was going to be there.”
Brisker, who said he has spoken to all but a handful of NFL teams over the past several weeks, won’t be the first professional athlete in his family.
He is the maternal grandson of John Brisker, who played for Pittsburgh’s ABA teams, the Pipers and Condors, from 1969-72 and later for the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics.
“Thinking about (getting drafted), I get nervous,” Brisker said, “but I’ve been waiting for this all my life.”
Count Holl among the many who are proud to see Brisker nearing his goal.
“You know the old saying?” Holl asked. “’(Life) is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.’ Well, he handled it great. It’s a great success story. He turned it around, and he’s going to be an NFL player.”