Former NFL standouts break down Clemson's special impact on their son's commitments

Brayden Jacobs is the son of Brandon Jacobs, the longtime NFL running back.

Grayson Mann - Staff Writer - Saturday, May 10 2025

Clemson's recruitment is different.

Just ask former NFL standouts Brandon Jacobs and Keith Brookings.

Jacobs and Brookings both know good football when they see it. That's because the pair lived it. Jacobs played nine seasons in the NFL, winning two Super Bowls with the New York Giants. Brookings spent 15 years with the Falcons, Cowboys, and Broncos, and was a five-time Pro Bowler.

The pair's football life has drastically changed, now guiding their sons as they aspire to make a career for themselves.

For Brayden Jacobs and Logan Brooking, that took them to Clemson.

But what led each family to make those choices that led them to this point?

On the "Two Right Turns Podcast," the NFL dad duo sat down to discuss what makes Dabo Swinney and the Tigers the ultimate spot for their sons to pursue their football dreams.

The elder Jacobs and Brooking didn't play at Clemson, so when their sons were being recruited to play for the Tigers, it was almost reliving the process.

It didn't take long for both to be totally sold on the pitch that Swinney was pushing.

"Coach (Swinney) was just going on about the numbers of Clemson and how offers from Clemson matter. Once you come to Clemson, you're at Clemson," Jacobs said. "We were telling once you commit to Clemson, we expect you to stay committed to Clemson. We're going to be committed to you. Now, with the way people are handling recruiting these days, they are forcing people to the portal and taking scholarships away. And Coach Swinney said, once you sign with Clemson, your scholarship is good till you graduate. You can break your leg, you can be half dead, but you're going to get a degree from Clemson if I have anything to do with it. He said all this great stuff and I'm like, that's what I needed to hear from my kid. I don't know if the NFL's in my son's future. So that's what I needed to hear, that he can come here and he can get a degree."

Jacobs, whose son was a unanimous 4-star prospect and ranked as high as 51st overall, likely wishes he had more eligibility, saying to Swinney and recruits on a visit assembled that if he had that type of conversation in his playing days, he'd commit on the spot.

"When we were done talking, I said, listen, I don't know about what your kids are thinking in here, but if I were a kid going through this process right now in this room that just heard that I'm committing today," Jacobs said. "And I guess when I said that, I guess my own son heard it, he was like, really? So I just think it's a great thing going through the recruiting process. Being a part of Clemson is much different than anywhere else. But coming to Clemson, it was different. I loved it. Again, like I said before, I wish I had that opportunity as a kid to come play for Clemson."

For the two, it wasn't just Swinney's sales pitch that put them on a trajectory to a Clemson commitment, but the things the program offered their children beyond the gridiron.

Both were able to relay what life after football can be, and what defines you after you hang up your helmet and shoulder pads. They wanted their children to be able to carve an easy path after the final whistle of their playing days, and believed Clemson was the best avenue for that.

Brooking remembers playing football for over 30 years, and his transition off the gridiron was an easy move to make. When he and his son evaluated his options, Swinney's program painted that picture for him.

"Yeah, I told you my football life started playing at six, retired when I was 38, a lot of football," Brooking said. "But I tried my best for the game, not to define me as I was playing it. There are a lot more important things in life and my transition after playing football has been pretty easy. It's been pretty smooth. So just the big picture of it is I didn't want Logan to choose a place where football was going to define him. It had to be more to it than that because what I was talking about earlier, just how sensitive the game is and how it can be taken away from you in an instant. Yeah, I think that's the big picture of it."

The big picture also came in the form of a community. Brooking played college football at Georgia Tech, and had a certain disdain for Clemson before his son visited campus.

After taking that visit, he understood what makes this community so tightly knit, and is incredibly thankful his son is now a part of it.

"You're like, what is so unique about this place?" Brooking continued. "I just drove in here on a bus in the mid-nineties to play and left. But you come up here and visit, and you kind of see that anyone who has ever attended this school or is a student here, they get their degree and graduate from here. I mean it's truly like it's their home. It's their second home. It's a unique place until you come up here and see it. And Logan is our first of four, and he's the first one to leave. So it was a big decision and it's very comforting knowing that he's here and you kind of get now why the Clemson crazies, they act, the way they act and the reason they're such big fans."

The "Clemson crazies" certainly added two families to their club, with Brooking and Jacobs now firmly invested in Clemson's future.