Not everyone who earns a college degree cares to go through the formality of the graduation ceremony.

Brandon Sharpe wasn’t one of those people. The Texas Tech defensive end couldn’t wait to don the cap and gown after all the obstacles he encountered along the way.

“Oh heck yeah,’’ Sharpe said recently. “I had to walk across the stage. I’m the first (in the family). My mother got a chance to see me graduate. It was big-time for her, to see her baby make it.’’

When Sharpe signed with Tech in 2007, the fact he had a reputation as a pass rusher was beside the more immediate point. Just to make it to Tech, Sharpe had to take and pass a massive course load — more than 30 hours — between the spring and summer of 2007.

Evidently, doing so gave him momentum. In May, Sharpe earned a degree in human development and family studies four years after he finished high school in Georgia.

“I always took a lot of classes,’’ he said. “I told them I wanted to graduate on time. I like to do things on time.’’
Sharpe was never one to miss class, according to Victoria Simonoff, a Tech athletic academic adviser. In fact, he’s been exemplary in his willingness to put in extra work.

“We get regular reports from professors, and there was never any issues or problems (with Sharpe),’’ Simonoff said. “It was always, ‘Polite young man,’ or ‘Wish all athletes were like him,’ things of that nature.
“If he needed a tutor for a class, he would come in and say, ‘I need a little extra help on this.’ If it was just an hour, he’d look at the tutor and say, ‘No, we need to stay a little longer.’ He’s very dedicated and very driven to education.’’

Last fall, for example, Sharpe took 18 hours during the season and made a 3.0 grade-point average.

“A person taking 18 hours on their own is incredible,’’ she said. “But taking 18 hours and playing football, that’s pretty impressive.’’

This season, the Red Raiders are counting heavily on Sharpe to provide reliable play at defensive end, where the team has been hit hard by attrition. Then in years to come, Sharpe has ideas about using his degree to work with youngsters — especially troubled kids and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

His own experiences will be worth relating.

Sharpe’s academic obstacles weren’t all of his own making. Before Tech, he attended Hibbing (Minn.) Community College and Fresno (Calif.) City College and lost 18 of his first 32 credit hours in the transfers.

He officially overcame that on May 9, the day he walked across the United Spirit Arena stage. Years before, in his early teens, the trauma of losing an older brother in an auto accident had an adverse effect on Sharpe. He managed to avoid any run-ins with the law, but he still acted up and got into fights.

The message to kids?

Sharpe says, “I got a truck. I got my own apartment. I pay my own bills. I take care of my daughter and go to school. If I can do all this, they can do it, too. If I can go juco and struggle and make it where I want to make it to, then they can, too. It all depends on how hard you want to work. Can’t anybody stop you but yourself.’’
Sharpe carries a constant reminder of his late brother. A simple tattoo of Derrian O’Neal Hopkins looks out from Sharpe’s left bicep. He died in 2000.

“That was one of the things that changed me a lot,’’ Sharpe said. “Once he passed, I became a real hothead — did a lot of fights and other stuff. Then I calmed down. I saw some stuff I didn’t want to see, and it made me want to change my ways. I’ve seen a lot of people get messed up. I didn’t want to end up like that, so I had to get on the right track.’’

Sharpe is enrolled in nine hours of graduate courses this semester, the requirement for an athlete with a bachelor’s degree to remain eligible. Over the summer, Sharpe watched his 3-year-old daughter graduate from day care and went to her first day in a Head Start program. He took pictures and made videos and refers to them often for motivation.

That’s his latest hardship.

His little girl, Brandi Maliyah LaShai Sharpe, is back home in Georgia.

“It’s real hard, but in the end all this is going to pay off,’’ he said. “I graduated this past May, so I’m trying to get a teaching certificate. Hopefully, football will work out, but I have something to fall back on.’’

Ahead of the curve
Seven players on the Texas Tech roster are graduate students this season who already have earned degrees:
SE Brik Brinker
DS Austin Burns
FB Ryan Hale
WR Weston Neiman
CB De’Shon Sanders
DE Brandon Sharpe
MLB Chris Wallace
Note: DT Clint Stoffels, who recently left the program, also graduated before his eligibility expired.

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