DICKINSON, N.D. — Bozeman High School graduate Brooks Talbot was passed over by several Frontier Conference schools before committing to play football for Pete Stanton at Dickinson State.
Talbot has grown into one of the team’s defensive leaders and, in games such as Dickinson’s season opener against Rocky Mountain College, he steps it up another level.
“Coach Stanton, coach (Jason) Thier, (coach Russell) McCarvel — all of them — they're willing to give kids a shot that other teams just look over," Talbot told MTN Sports. "I think it makes the team better, because we all have something kind of to play for and prove to other schools. Playing (Montana) Tech last year, I wanted to prove them so wrong and what they missed. I'm so happy here, and that was a great win."
Talbot isn’t the biggest linebacker on the Blue Hawk roster, listed at 5-foot-8 and 200 pounds. As boxer Evander Holyfield once said, "It is not the size of a man, but the size of his heart that matters."
“With Brooks, sometimes size should not scare people off. We have great resources. Talking to my brother Rob and Matt Hollowell at Billings West, that's a name that kept coming up, like don't get caught up in Brooks' size. He's a player," said Stanton. "Talking to (Bozeman) coach (Levi) Wesche about him, he's just a playmaker."
“I talked to all of those other NAIAs in Montana, and personally I think they were scared of (my size)," Talbot said. "(Dickinson) saw something in me that they didn't, and now look at me and everyone else."
Now a senior and majoring in business administration, Talbot has dreams of opening a fly shop after growing up as an avid fly fisher in the Bozeman area.
“My dad was a guide for a long time before his construction days and he got my first fly rod when I was about 4 years old," Talbot said. "He's taught me everything. I grew up doing it, because we actually lived on the Gallatin River. Me and my brother growing up did it all the time, too, and we still do when I go back home."
Talbot is in no rush to get the rest of his life started, as he hopes to help Dickinson to yet another North Star Athletic Association title for a 10th consecutive year.
