Will Stehl remembers seeing a rather unassuming young man at a Villanova University retreat about seven years ago. As a student leader, one of Stehl’s responsibilities was to elicit conversation from the shy retreatants.
“He seemed like a nice guy,” said Stehl, who is now a campus minister at Archmere Academy High School in Claymont, Del. “I heard he was a football player.”
Sure was. His name was Brian Westbrook, and this Sunday, Westbrook will start at running back in Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, Fla.
To say that Westbrook didn’t exactly look like a future National Football League star in college is putting it mildly. He was quick, but he wasn’t big. Playing in a Division I-AA program like Villanova seemed perfect for him.
His collegiate accomplishments were extraordinary. He holds the all-time NCAA record, with 9,885 all-purpose yards. In 46 career games, he scored 84 touchdowns, carried the ball 725 times for 4,499 yards (6.2 avg.), caught 219 passes for 2,639 yards, and gained 2,433 yards and 4 touchdowns on kickoff return. He set 41 school, 13 Atlantic Ten Conference and five NCAA records.
In 1998, he became the first player in college football history both to rush and receive more than 1,000 yards in the same season.
He missed the 1999 season in his sophomore year because of a knee injury. Then, in his junior year, he led the country in all-purpose yardage, with 2,992.
In his senior year, he missed all but five games because of another injury.
His future football endeavors did not look promising.
But looks can be deceiving no more than in the case of Westbrook.
Drafted in the third round by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2002, he burst through as an NFL star in 2003. This year, he has been flat-out amazing — to the point where NFL defensive coordinators admitted they had to create specific game plans to stop the 5-foot-9-inch, 205-pound back.
This past week, Westbrook was named to the Pro-Bowl team because two other players decided to rest injuries. So, after the Super Bowl, Westbrook will fly to Hawaii and join the rest of the NFL’s elite.
In the face of all that achievement, consider Westbrook humbled.
“That’s something that I didn’t think a lot about,” he said. “I mean, there are so many great players in this league. To put myself in their category... .”
Westbrook didn’t finish the sentence, but he didn’t need to. His countenance said it all. Westbrook is thankful for the opportunity — appreciative of what life has offered him during his 25 years.
“God has blessed me tremendously,” he said. “Any time I have been down in my life or had a big decision to make, I have trusted my faith. That’s more important than anything.
“I think that when you have gifts, you have to share them. You do that by making the most out of what you have. For me, I have the ability to play football. I love it. I always have. Every time I’m out on the field, I am thankful.”
That’s not to say that Westbrook was always so mature. He said that his high school football and basketball coaches at DeMatha Catholic High in Hyattsville, Md., were largely responsible for his work ethic. Westbrook said he was so much better than most of the other players that he sometimes “didn’t have to work too hard to do well.”
According to Bill McGregor, who coached him at DeMatha, Westbrook was extremely coachable.
“He’s an outstanding athlete,” McGregor said. “You knew he was going to be good, but you didn’t know he would be this good. He wasn’t the biggest kid on the team. He wasn’t the fastest kid on the team. But he’d do things right. He did everything as a coach that you want him to do.
“You never know who can make it, but it doesn’t surprise me he has gone as far as he has,” McGregor said. “We never had a problem with him. You know how you have kids that are just too good to be true? That’s Brian. He’s a great person.”
He’s also a Super Bowl starter. And a Pro-Bowler, too. Not too shabby for the shy little guy at the Villanova retreat.

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