From AuburnTigers.com and staff reports
AUBURN, Ala. – For senior Brandon Council, the road to where he is now has been anything but ordinary. Last year was supposed to be his final year playing football at Auburn, but he’s back for one more go after his 2021 season was cut short due to a knee injury.
Why come back? He wants to be part of something great at Auburn. “I decided to stay because of the atmosphere at Auburn,” Council said. “I want to help contribute to a team that’s ready to compete for a championship. I want to help build that.”
For Council, last year’s knee injury wasn’t the first injury he’s encountered. When suffering through multiple major injuries throughout a career, it can be hard to persevere and stay focused on getting back on the field, but endurance and determination seem to come naturally to him.
“It’s more about self-motivation,” he said. “Me being able to just motivate myself to keep going no matter what. Even after all these injuries, to achieve the goals and set a standard for myself to not quit anything I do means a lot. I don’t want to have any regrets. I don’t want to ask myself, ‘What if I made the wrong choice?’
“Taking care of your mental health is the biggest key to that. Just having a great support system around you during recovery is always vital. One of the biggest things in the recovery process of injuries is that your physical health is always going to be the easy part. It’s more about mental health. You want to get back out there and compete again, but knowing that you can’t yet is the challenge.”
In his time at Auburn, Council has not only gone above and beyond to reach his goals on the field, he’s also worked extremely hard to stay focused and reach his goals in the classroom and in the community as well. He already graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sports management and is currently finishing a second undergraduate degree in business. Down the road, he’d love to be an athletic director.
Council graduated from West Bladen High School in 2015. He is the son of Angel Jones and Robert Council
The 6-foot-4, 328-pound college senior is expected to start on the offensive line for the Tigers, who are scheduled to open their season Sept. 3 against Mercer.
Council came to Auburn as a graduate transfer from Akron and started the first 5 games of the 2020 season before tearing the ACL of his left knee against Mississippi on October 24. It was the 2nd serious injury of his career as he had missed the entire 2018 season at Akron due to knee surgery.
While the Tar Heel native was rehabbing his knee after the 2020 injury, he suffered a torn labrum that kept him out of spring practice. By the time 2021 training camp began, Council was participating fully in practice and earned back his starting spot for the season opener, a 60-10 victory over his previous school, Akron. Council played three seasons at Akron.
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