Michigan State University Athletics
Brandon Sowards: Ready To Finish His Circle
9/6/2019 11:39:00 AM | Football
As a five-year old water boy for his brothers' little league team, Brandon Sowards realized his desire to play football. Fast forward over 18 years and Sowards has been able to complete a childhood dream to play and start at wide receiver for MSU. However, that dream didn't come easy.Â
After earning a scholarship as a walk on and excelling in the off season and preseason camp, Sowards' career trajectory was rerouted when he tore his ACL prior to the start of the 2017 season.Â
"I was having the best camp out of anyone as far as receivers, so I was the number one, number two guy coming into that scrimmage," he said. "I was having a really good scrimmage and there was a rollout to my side, I ran a hitch, caught the ball and Justin Layne came from one side, Joe Bachie came from the other and I just got twisted up. It happened so fast, but I immediately knew something was wrong."
In August of 2017, Sowards had to say goodbye to the opportunity to play in a season that he thought was going to be the breakout of his career.Â
"Mentally the hardest part of that the entire 2017 season was that I wasn't on the field; I was in the press box," Sowards said. "I feel like that was the worst part because I knew I was going to make a big contribution that year. Just not being able to while being up in the stands drinking hot chocolate and eating hot dogs was the worst part about it, watching my guys go, knowing I couldn't go."
Before his true birth as a wide receiver for the Spartans, Sowards remembered having to adapt to the speed of the game as a true freshman.Â
"My freshman year that summer was pretty tough, just because high school and college are on completely different ends of the spectrum with the amount of work and the time you put into it," he said. "I feel like learning the plays wasn't that bad; it was learning the speed and having to get bigger. I was a little freshman, it was my first practice, first day in pads and Taiwan Jones comes across the middle and just destroys me and I was like yeah, this is different."
After redshirting his freshman year, during the following two seasons Sowards began to see more and more opportunity and responsibility on the field in special teams. He was on the field during the infamous "trouble with the snap" play against Michigan in 2015, which paved the way for his first in-game punt return against Furman in 2016 as a redshirt sophomore. Recalling the play, Sowards laughed thinking about how eager he was to get some yards.Â
"RJ (Shelton) went down and I was the second returner and Coach D is looking at me and says, 'you're in' and I was like 'all right let's do it'," Sowards said. "The first punt return we were in punt-save, so at the time when you're in punt-save you're going to fair catch it. I didn't fair catch it. I was so nervous I just wanted to catch it and run up field, I think I got two or three yards. I came on the sidelines and Coach D was like, 'you know you can fair catch, right?'"
Sowards later went out to start as punt returner against Indiana that season.Â
During his recovery in 2017, Sowards was highly encouraged by Coach Dantonio to take his time as he worked his way back to the field. Â
"Going into it, Coach D just told me to take it slow, don't rush into because I tore it August 18, 2017, so obviously I wasn't going to be playing all year," he said. "He told me to just take it slow and if I could come back for spring ball that's great, if not that's great as well… It was tough.(Athletic trainer) Tam (Hibbler) rehabbed me through the entire process. I would say around month five I was getting really frustrated because I felt like I was going way too slow… I wanted to just go, go, go."
Eventually, Sowards was back where his season was cut short, but with an outcome that resembled what he was hoping for his redshirt junior season.Â
"It felt awesome because I felt like they stuck with me through a tough time and they didn't have to, but they did," he said. "Last year I had a pretty good camp as well, which showed that I was back, which I was because I was fully healthy. It just showed that they trusted me throughout the entire process and I'm grateful for that."
The wide receiver was healthy enough to play the first home game of the 2018 season against Utah State and continued on to have his first start as wide receiver against Northwestern. Last season also saw Sowards register three additional starts during the 2018 season against Penn State, Purdue and Ohio State. His season was full of career bests with six catches for 48 yards against the Boilers and a career-long 23-yard reception against the Wildcats.Â
Sowards will be able to finish what he started in Spartan Stadium as he was granted a sixth year of eligibility for the 2019 season.Â
"I was really happy about that," he said. "As Coach D says, 'complete our circles.' A circle of mine coming into Michigan State was to be a four-year letter winner and if I didn't get the sixth year, I'd only be a three-year letter winner. That's just a goal of mine that I'll be able to complete and I'm really fortunate enough to get this sixth year."
As the 2019 season is quickly approaching, Sowards feels confident in the chemistry of the team to achieve one of the ultimate goals, a Big Ten Championship.Â
"For myself personally, I just want to be the best version of myself, whether that is special teams or receiver wise, it doesn't matter," he said. "I just want to have fun this year. As a team, the ultimate goal is to win the Big Ten Championship, to win the East and I feel like we have the roster to do that."
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After earning a scholarship as a walk on and excelling in the off season and preseason camp, Sowards' career trajectory was rerouted when he tore his ACL prior to the start of the 2017 season.Â
"I was having the best camp out of anyone as far as receivers, so I was the number one, number two guy coming into that scrimmage," he said. "I was having a really good scrimmage and there was a rollout to my side, I ran a hitch, caught the ball and Justin Layne came from one side, Joe Bachie came from the other and I just got twisted up. It happened so fast, but I immediately knew something was wrong."
In August of 2017, Sowards had to say goodbye to the opportunity to play in a season that he thought was going to be the breakout of his career.Â
"Mentally the hardest part of that the entire 2017 season was that I wasn't on the field; I was in the press box," Sowards said. "I feel like that was the worst part because I knew I was going to make a big contribution that year. Just not being able to while being up in the stands drinking hot chocolate and eating hot dogs was the worst part about it, watching my guys go, knowing I couldn't go."
Before his true birth as a wide receiver for the Spartans, Sowards remembered having to adapt to the speed of the game as a true freshman.Â
"My freshman year that summer was pretty tough, just because high school and college are on completely different ends of the spectrum with the amount of work and the time you put into it," he said. "I feel like learning the plays wasn't that bad; it was learning the speed and having to get bigger. I was a little freshman, it was my first practice, first day in pads and Taiwan Jones comes across the middle and just destroys me and I was like yeah, this is different."
After redshirting his freshman year, during the following two seasons Sowards began to see more and more opportunity and responsibility on the field in special teams. He was on the field during the infamous "trouble with the snap" play against Michigan in 2015, which paved the way for his first in-game punt return against Furman in 2016 as a redshirt sophomore. Recalling the play, Sowards laughed thinking about how eager he was to get some yards.Â
"RJ (Shelton) went down and I was the second returner and Coach D is looking at me and says, 'you're in' and I was like 'all right let's do it'," Sowards said. "The first punt return we were in punt-save, so at the time when you're in punt-save you're going to fair catch it. I didn't fair catch it. I was so nervous I just wanted to catch it and run up field, I think I got two or three yards. I came on the sidelines and Coach D was like, 'you know you can fair catch, right?'"
Sowards later went out to start as punt returner against Indiana that season.Â
During his recovery in 2017, Sowards was highly encouraged by Coach Dantonio to take his time as he worked his way back to the field. Â
"Going into it, Coach D just told me to take it slow, don't rush into because I tore it August 18, 2017, so obviously I wasn't going to be playing all year," he said. "He told me to just take it slow and if I could come back for spring ball that's great, if not that's great as well… It was tough.(Athletic trainer) Tam (Hibbler) rehabbed me through the entire process. I would say around month five I was getting really frustrated because I felt like I was going way too slow… I wanted to just go, go, go."
Eventually, Sowards was back where his season was cut short, but with an outcome that resembled what he was hoping for his redshirt junior season.Â
"It felt awesome because I felt like they stuck with me through a tough time and they didn't have to, but they did," he said. "Last year I had a pretty good camp as well, which showed that I was back, which I was because I was fully healthy. It just showed that they trusted me throughout the entire process and I'm grateful for that."
The wide receiver was healthy enough to play the first home game of the 2018 season against Utah State and continued on to have his first start as wide receiver against Northwestern. Last season also saw Sowards register three additional starts during the 2018 season against Penn State, Purdue and Ohio State. His season was full of career bests with six catches for 48 yards against the Boilers and a career-long 23-yard reception against the Wildcats.Â
Sowards will be able to finish what he started in Spartan Stadium as he was granted a sixth year of eligibility for the 2019 season.Â
"I was really happy about that," he said. "As Coach D says, 'complete our circles.' A circle of mine coming into Michigan State was to be a four-year letter winner and if I didn't get the sixth year, I'd only be a three-year letter winner. That's just a goal of mine that I'll be able to complete and I'm really fortunate enough to get this sixth year."
As the 2019 season is quickly approaching, Sowards feels confident in the chemistry of the team to achieve one of the ultimate goals, a Big Ten Championship.Â
"For myself personally, I just want to be the best version of myself, whether that is special teams or receiver wise, it doesn't matter," he said. "I just want to have fun this year. As a team, the ultimate goal is to win the Big Ten Championship, to win the East and I feel like we have the roster to do that."
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Players Mentioned
Monday, September 28
Saturday, September 26
Thursday, September 24
Monday, September 21