Sept. 27, 2006

Through his first three years of high school, Samford senior tight end Josh Brennard never thought about playing college football.

Brennard was a backup quarterback on the Brentwood High School football team as a freshman, sophomore and junior, but the sport he planned on playing in college was baseball.

"I played football, basketball and baseball in college," Brennard said. "Probably the most interesting thing about that is I was definitely planning on playing baseball in college."

Prior to his senior season in high school everything changed when he was moved from quarterback to wide receiver.

"I was lucky because I knew early I was going to play wide receiver," Brennard said. "They told me that when we were in the high school version of two-a-days, so I was able to work through it. I split time in the first game, but after that I was the starter at wide receiver the rest of the year."

In his one season as a wide receiver, Brennard was named All-District, All-Region and All-Mid State at Brentwood. He accomplished all of that while still splitting time between two positions.

"It was kind of neat because I was also still the backup quarterback," Brennard said. "So, if we were blowing a team out at halftime, I got in at quarterback. I never really got off the field, I was able to play quarterback in the second half of a lot of games."

Brennard first visited Samford in the summer between his junior and senior seasons, when he was still considering playing baseball in college. The impression Samford made on him stood out when the time came to choose a college.

"It seemed like with all the colleges I visited, everything I liked about them, Samford had or Samford would be better in that area, like academics, the size of the school, it being a Christian college and athletics," Brennard said.

Brennard came to Samford as a freshman in 2002 and walked on to the football team. He redshirted the 2002 season and was given a half scholarship in 2003, his redshirt freshman season.

In 2003, Brennard caught 19 passes for 173 yards and four touchdowns. He helped lead the team to a 7-4 overall record and a third-place finish in its first season in the Ohio Valley Conference. Heading into his sophomore season, Brennard earned a full scholarship.

"He (head coach Bill Gray) must have seen something I could do to have that confidence in me," Brennard said. "After my first year as a redshirt freshman, that next spring he announced in front of the team before practice one day that he was going to put me on full scholarship.

"After that, I don't remember what practice was like that day," Brennard said. "Because after he told me that, I was just thinking about how great it was that I wasn't going to have to pay for college anymore. It was really neat and exciting to have all of the coaches come up to me and congratulate me along with all of the players."

As a sophomore in 2004, Brennard caught 18 passes for 158 yards and three touchdowns. Last season, as a junior, Brennard had 11 receptions for 101 yards and three touchdowns.

Brennard said that his confidence grew after he was switched from receiver to tight end as a freshman.

"Coming in as a redshirt that first year, it was kind of intimidating," Brennard said. "I think I didn't give myself enough credit and didn't have a lot of confidence on the field. I was playing wide receiver when I first got here, but then I was put into a position (tight end) that I could play and succeed in on the field."

Prior to the 2006 season, Brennard, along with fellow seniors Graham Lemmond, T.C. Myers and Freddy Young, was named a team captain.

"It's a huge deal to me," Brennard said. "It was a huge deal to be one of the four out of 18 seniors to be selected. I am excited about the guys who are captains along with me."

Brennard said he is expecting a big season from the Bulldogs in his final season in a Samford uniform.

"It should be a great year," Brennard said. "There is just something about this team. It feels like we are a lot closer as a team and everything seems to be clicking. Everything just feels different this year."