O-line and... swimming? How Ryan Brubaker's aquatic success landed football attention

Like any high school player hoping to one day play at the next level, South Carolina football signee Ryan Brubraker was at one time just a young prospect trying to get noticed.

And as we all are reminded from time to time, sometimes mama really does know best.

The 6-foot-6, 280-pound offensive line prospect from Denver (Pa.) Cocalico High was not only one of the top rising offensive tackle prospects in his but also an accomplished swimmer.

Two-sport athletes making the jump to the next level? Incredibly common. An offensive tackle having success in the pool? Far less so. But it turned out to be one of Brubaker’s secret weapons in gaining attention from college coaches, including South Carolina’s.

“It was the first thing that caught our eyes as coaches when I first got here last year,” South Carolina offensive line coach Greg Adkins said. “Somewhere about in this time last year, was the first time I had watched him, and his mom is the one who put his HUDL film together — found this out as the process was going on — the dad played (football) at Penn State. The dad said, ‘Nah, you don’t need to put that on there, they’ll think you’re weird or whatever.’ And his mom said, ‘No, this is going to show his athleticism, his toughness, his competitiveness’ and it did. I mean the very first thing on his HUDL film is swimming highlights and it caught my eye. I thought it was pretty amazing.”

While Brubaker’s father, a former Big Ten offensive lineman and high school offensive line coach, has been instrumental in helping Ryan develop into a high-level offensive line prospect, Ryan confirmed that it was mom who pushed the idea of including swimming in the recruiting process.

“My parents helped advise me when I was gearing my Twitter as a recruiting account and usually my dad had the most input because it was a football matter,” Brubaker told Gamecock Central. “But in this case, my mom stepped in and gave some good reasons why to post a really good swim, specifically the one in particular that I came from behind to win in the 200 IM. I was then told when I first started contact with the staff that it was included in my player profile made by the office recruiting assistants and that’s one of the things that set me apart.”

Brubaker ultimately committed to and signed with South Carolina football over finalists Penn State, Tennessee, Stanford and Vanderbilt.

The On3 Consensus – a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies – has Brubaker as the No. 31 offensive tackle in the 2022 class and the No. 16 overall prospect in Pennsylvania.

While it doesn’t appear Brubaker will continue in the pool at the next level, the sport has been instrumental in his growth as an athlete.

And apparently in gaining attention from coaches like Adkins, who is looking forward to adding Brubaker to the South Carolina football roster when he arrives this summer.

“And then obviously as his film turned on from a football standpoint — actually I believe it had him running a 400 meter after that in a big-man relay on the track team — this guy is a competitor in everything that he does,” Adkins continued. “He goes from football to swimming — which we all know how tough that is — to track. This guy is a non-stop guy. Highly motivated to be the best he can be on and off the field. He’s going to be probably a little behind from a pass-pro standpoint based upon the offense that he played in. But I know that his dad is working with him on a daily basis, because he’s doing football and track right now from a training standpoint.”

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