STARKVILLE — Not having the game of baseball last year changed Nick Brooks’ life.
On Thursday, that same game paved the way for him to take the next step in a positive way when he signed to play baseball at East Mississippi Community College.
As a junior last season, Brooks was dismissed from the Starkville High School baseball team for what school officials called an undisclosed disciplinary action. Everyone around Brooks said that time away helped him appreciate the game more, and helped him understand the personal maturity he needs to have to reach his dream to play professional baseball.
“One of the things he loves in his life was something he thought he was going to lose, and that’s baseball,” Brooks’ mother, Lynn, said Thursday. “This gives him an opportunity to think just because you fall down doesn’t mean you have to stay down.”
Brooks was one of four Starkville High baseball players who was suspended indefinitely for violating team rules last March.
“It was a big turning point,” Brooks said. “I feel like it happens in everybody’s life at some point, and with it happening as early as it did it really slowed me down to make me realize I needed to prepare myself for bigger and better things. I am a better person than what I had acted out to be.”
As a sophomore, Brooks hit .351 with a .432 slugging percentage. He also scored 21 runs near the top of the Starkville lineup.
“I think last year was a real learning experience for Nick,” Starkville coach Danny Carlisle said. “The maturity factor is going to come into play during his senior season. He just understands life so much better.”
Brooks is the latest in a long line Starkville High players who have played for Carlisle, who will coach his final season this year, to receive a scholarship to play in college.
“It’s always good to see your players move on and display their talents at the next level,” Carlisle said. “Nick loves the game and plays with a lot of intensity. Nick isn’t a follower now, he’s a leader.”
EMCC coach Chris Rose, who took over EMCC’s baseball coaching duties a year ago after spending the previous five seasons as baseball coach at Meridian C.C., said Brooks is a multi-talented athlete who could find a spot at the top of the Lions’ lineup the minute when he arrives in Scooba.
“He is just a phenomenal athlete,” Rose said. “He hits for power, he’s a plus runner, and he has some intangibles. He is an intelligent player, and an intense player. A lot of things you’re looking for, he brings to the table. We are just very excited about getting an outstanding player from the local area.”
Noted as one of the top recruiters in the region, Rose tutored six NJCAA All-Americans at MCC, including 2007 National Player of the Year Tyler Moore.
However, it was Rose’s commitment to the student-athlete on and off the field that sold Lynn Brooks after the family took an official visit to EMCC last summer.
“I was taken by the fact coach Rose took a personal interest in my son after the difficulties we had last year,” Lynn Brooks said. “I’m very comfortable with that man. He told us at his program there’s God, there’s family, and then there’s us on this team. He’s a man I can trust to lead my son not only in sports but in life now that he’ll be away from home.”
Brooks’ goal this season is to help the Yellow Jackets contend for a region title and qualify for the state playoffs. That would be a good way to send Carlisle out after the Starkville School Board recently approved the recommendation of Starkville High Athletic Director Stan Miller to bring him back for one more season. Carlisle retired from teaching last year.
“(The signing) relaxes me a lot because it lets me know that I’m capable of a lot,” Brooks said. “Things in life aren’t always easy. It comes from hard work. This just makes me want to work harder in the weight room and being a better person.”
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