Durant Stiles Brooks (born April 15, 1985) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

punter who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Brooks played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the Georgia Military Bulldogs and the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The teams have also been nicknamed the ...

, where he won the

Ray Guy Award The Ray Guy Award is presented annually to college football's most outstanding punter as adjudged by the Augusta Sports Council. The award is named after punter Ray Guy, an All-American for Southern Mississippi and an All-Pro in the National Fo ...

in 2007. He was selected by

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

in the sixth round of the

2008 NFL draft The 2008 NFL draft was the 73rd NFL draft, annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York (state), New York ...

. Brooks also was a member of the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

and

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

Early life

Brooks attended Tattnall Square Academy in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Situated near the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is southeast of Atlanta and near the ...

and was a student and a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. In football, he was the punter on the 2001 Georgia Independent Schools Association (GISA) Title team. In basketball, he averaged nearly 18 points a game. Brooks graduated from Tattnall in 2003.

College career

Georgia Military College

Brooks attended

Georgia Military College Georgia Military College (GMC) is a Public college, public military junior college in Milledgeville, Georgia. It is divided into the junior college, a military junior college program, high school, middle school, and elementary school. It was ori ...

and was a student and a two-year letterman in

. In football, he posted an average of 40 yards per punt over two years. In his senior season, Brooks had an average of 45.3.

Georgia Tech

After graduating from Georgia Military College, Brooks attended

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

, punting for the

as a redshirt junior. In his two years at Georgia Tech, Brooks had 144 punts: nearly half (68) landed inside the 20 yard line, while 57 went for more than 50 yards. His longest punt came in his final ACC game in 2007: playing against North Carolina, Brooks stood at the back of his own end-zone and punted the ball to the opposite 16-yard line—the punt was officially marked as 77 yards (from the line of scrimmage at the seven to the opposite 16), but measured over 90 yards from the spot of the punt. As a junior, Brooks came in third place for the

, given to the best punter in the country. He was also named to the

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

second-team by the AP, and the All-ACC first-team. As a senior, Brooks received the Ray Guy Award, ranking second in the ACC (and fourth in the nation) in punting average while only allowing his opponents to return 19 of his 65 punts. That year, he was also named to the All-American second-team by AP (first-team by Sports Illustrated and Rivals) and the All-ACC first-team.

Professional career

Washington Redskins

Brooks was selected by the

in the sixth round (168th overall) of the

. He signed a four-year contract with the Redskins on July 11. Brooks won the punting job over

Derrick Frost Derrick E. Frost (born November 25, 1980) is an American former professional football punter. He was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2003. He played college football at Northern Iowa. Frost was also a member o ...

, who was released on August 30. After week 6 of the

2008 NFL season The 2008 NFL season was the 89th regular season of the National Football League (NFL), themed with the slogan "Believe in Now." Super Bowl XLIII, the league's championship game, was at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on February 1, ...

reports surfaced that Brooks was to be replaced by a veteran due to his poor performance. His gross average of 39.6 yards and net average of 32.1 yards were last in the NFL at the time. On October 15, the Redskins signed punter Ryan Plackemeier, effectively ending Brooks' tenure with the team.

Green Bay Packers

Brooks was signed to the

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

of the

on December 15, 2008 after

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

Steven Korte was released. He was re-signed to a future contract at the end of the season. The Packers released Brooks on August 31, 2009 after he lost the punting job to

Jeremy Kapinos Jeremy D. Kapinos (born August 23, 1984) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a Punter (American football), punter in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Penn State Nitt ...

Philadelphia Eagles

After spending the 2009 season out of football, Brooks signed a two-year contract with the

on February 2, 2010. He was expected to compete with

Sav Rocca Saverio Giovanni Rocca (born 20 November 1973) is an Australian former professional sportsman. He played Australian rules football for Collingwood and the Kangaroos in the Australian Football League (AFL), and then switched to playing America ...

for the starting punter job, but was waived on May 25.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Brooks signed with the

on August 5, 2010, but was waived a week later on August 12.

References

External links

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Durant 1985 births Living people American football punters Georgia Military Bulldogs football players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players Green Bay Packers players Jacksonville Jaguars players Philadelphia Eagles players Washington Redskins players Players of American football from Macon, Georgia