Born on June 23, 1976, Brandon is the youngest of three children raised by Nelson and Jane Stokley. His father was the head coach at Southwestern Louisiana, now University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where Brandon played four years – the first two with quarterback Jake Delhomme. While in college, Brandon met his future wife, Lana, a two-time All-America left fielder in softball who led Southwestern Louisiana to two College World Series. They have two sons, Cameron, who turns 4 in December, and Carson, 18 months.
Klis: Not many NFL players didn’t play football during their sophomore and junior years in high school, but this was the case with you. What happened?
Stokley: I played my seventh- and eighth-grade year and my freshman year I played quarterback. I was small. A small guy who didn’t have a very good arm. I enjoyed basketball and baseball a lot more.
Klis: If size was a problem, I assume you were a point guard. And I always assume athletes who played baseball were shortstops.
Stokley: Point guard in basketball, shortstop in baseball. So I just decided to concentrate on those two sports. But then we wound up getting a new football coach in high school and he asked me to try out for receiver because he put in a new spread offense. I’d been around football all my life, so I knew how to run routes.
Klis: So how small were you when you made your decision to skip football?
Stokley: Going into my sophomore year, I remember because I got my driver’s license and I was 5-foot-4, 115 pounds.
Klis: So you knew enough about football to know 5-4, 115 wasn’t going to cut it.
Stokley: Right. Even coming out of high school I was only 155 pounds. I really didn’t want to play college football. Didn’t really think about it too much.
Klis: You’re 6-foot, 193 pounds now. When did you hit your growth spurt?
Stokley: I started getting a little bit taller between my sophomore and senior years in high school. In college I started hitting the weights hard.
Klis: Having your dad for your head coach at college, did you ever get guff for nepotism, favoritism, whatever?
Stokley: Not really, because I think I proved myself from Day One after my redshirt year. I had a good freshman year, so I don’t think that was ever a factor. Playing for my dad was great. He handled it really well.
Klis: Your dad coached at Clemson – which is in South Carolina, by the way – when you were in third and fourth grade. Do you remember that experience?
Stokley: I remember moving and I didn’t want to move. Clemson was great and I didn’t understand that was good for my father to move from offensive coordinator to head coach. My mom and dad were from Louisiana, so to have a chance to coach back home was a great opportunity for them.
Klis: Tell me about mom. She died during your senior year in college. I can’t imagine how tough that must have been on you.
Stokley: I actually got the call late after a football game. It was definitely a tough time. She was my No. 1 fan. My biggest supporter. When your dad’s a football coach he’s gone a lot. So your mom has to be everything for you. I was the baby of the family, so I was spoiled a little bit. We all miss her.
Klis: Got to admit, from my experience of covering sports, a guy your age, coming off a season-ending Achilles operation, the three catches for 65 yards you got last week were three catches and 65 yards more than I thought you’d get in the season opener.
Stokley: (Laughs). I think that’s what a lot of people thought. That was motivation for me because a lot of people doubted me. And I don’t blame them after the season I had last year. It was injury after injury – I just don’t think I was supposed to play football last year. It was fun to play in that first game of the year. That was my goal from Day One when I signed here was to be ready to play against Buffalo.
Klis: Talking about this got me thinking about Mike Brown, the Bears safety. Out again for the season, this time with a torn ACL. Third year in a row. I mean, if I’m him, I quit.
Stokley: My wife is always giving me a hard time, she says I always have something wrong with me. That’s one guy who’s had more injuries than me. I feel badly for him.
Klis: Seriously, how do you not quit? I mean, rehab must be the worst thing in sports. And you’ve gone through it time after time.
Stokley: I just love to compete. I love the locker room. You don’t find this anywhere else. Everything you get from a football team, there’s nothing else like it. After a win, and you play in that game, it’s the greatest feeling ever. You’re sore and beat up and you get on a plane like last week, and it’s just the best feeling. You can’t get that anywhere else.
The Stokley file
* Wide receiver.
* 6 feet, 193 pounds.
* Selected by Baltimore in the fourth round (105th overall) of the 1999 NFL draft. Joined the Broncos as a free agent in March.
* Played for two Super Bowl champions: Baltimore in 2000 (XXXV) and Indianapolis in 2006 (XLI).
* Played only four games for the Colts in 2006 because of injuries and was placed on injured reserve on Dec. 14.
Editor’s note: Throughout the season, Broncos reporter Mike Klis and photographer Cyrus McCrimmon will help readers get to know one of the team’s players on a deeper level. McCrimmon’s photographs will complement a weekly conversation with Klis about life, work and play.
