Declan Brantley '23 Recruiting Profile

I have grown a lot over these past few years learning what it means to be a student athlete.  I have set myself on the track for an honors diploma.  Being a student at the #1 public high school in Indiana is a challenge.  West Lafayette is a school that does not weight grades, and is extremely demanding, but I have stepped up to meet this challenge and understand how well I will be prepared for the rigor of college.  I have overcome occasional hurdles and now that I am focused on my goals to study aviation, technology, health/kinesiology or sports sciences, I know what I have to do to be a successful student.  I am not perfect, but I am fierce and motivated for my future in college.  Being able to combine my love for the sport of football, with my future career goals, is a dream I am excited to now be able to pursue.

As I look to find a great fit as a student athlete, part of that will hopefully include utilizing my learned skill of longsnapping. I love new challenges and learning new skills.  I am very open to any role in which my future coaches want to train me in.  Football is a sport with so many different ways to play the game that I know I have only been exposed to a small amount of plays and ways to play the game on our high school team.  We are a group that runs a spread offense with a very fast paced game.  The pace required us to be fit and agile, and opened my mind to what other areas of the game I could potentially play in through a different teams game plans.  I am excited to take these next steps in the future.

Some of the main influences in my life have been my friends, teammates and family.  It has been through them that I have learned the importance of good character, honesty, work ethic, and always aiming at team or self improvement by setting goals.  I have also learned to be accountable to my coaches and peers/teammates and also to set team goals and more goals for myself.  Doing my part in being on special teams gave me a start in varsity roles.  I then advanced into playing in all O-Line positions while being in on every longsnap through much of my sophomore and all of my junior season. I accept and embrace the pressure and listen to then use my coaches input and have had great improvements over these past few years.  

Through my sports experiences I have explored and succeeded in swimming, baseball and golf but found most enjoyment with the team on the football field.  I lettered in swimming as a freshman and sophomore and will play my first varsity golf season this spring.  I met and maintained close friendships in each sport, but football especially helped me transition to high school because of the instant connection to many upperclassmen and role models on the field and in the classroom.  It was through the mentoring of upperclassmen that I developed strength and learned how to lead by example for upcoming underclassmen. In deciding to replace swimming this season, and to focus on weight training three to four days a week this winter.  I have provided encouragement and even transportation for others to work out.  This is all with the goal to help our team develop in areas that will be challenging this upcoming senior year.

Football is truly my favorite sport, and as I look towards college, I want to apply all I have learned from each sports team to be the best possible incoming football player for my future university. I know I have only begun to learn and grow, and I want to continue this in college.  I embrace the role of longsnapping and enjoy being the one my team can rely upon in the intensity that this position encounters.  I had support from my family to attend a Kohl’s longsnapping camp and learned so much in that short few hours.  I also was invited to attend the national showcase in the summer of 2021, but due to covid we were unable to join that event in Gatlinburg TN.  It is intimidating, but also a challenge I love.  This year, I have taken on a role to help others begin to learn the process, and hopefully our team will benefit by having several with these skills this year.  

Also important to me is being a strong community member.  I work as a lifeguard and swim instructor and have been employed since I was 15. I worked at Purdue Aquatics Center and now for West Lafayette Parks and Rec.  I also enjoy volunteering when I am able to, with the local food bank.  I plan to do more of this in the future wherever I attend college and later in my permanent community.  Through my team we have visited our upper elementary school to encourage and support the developmental football groups.  I have also been involved in a startup group called CaptioTech, which was founded to supply those without technology a laptop to help with their school work. While this is no longer an active group, I hope to always support kids within my community.  My father has been instrumental in my interest in technology, and as a stem elementary teacher, I get how critical getting young children engaged is to their future.  Purdue student athletes always visited my classrooms, and I hope to find a program that also has engagement with local schools to foster this development.

As I look forward to my senior year, and look back at my pathway, I have learned so much through my coaches, teammates and family.  My love of learning has now taken a very positive direction, and this success is due to support from those around me. I may not have understood this initially, but I embrace who I have been and know where I am headed. My focus with this process is to continue towards my goals and to include what I know has helped me grow so much, which is being a football student athlete.