{"id":1319631,"date":"2020-04-25T12:11:49","date_gmt":"2020-04-25T18:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=995916"},"modified":"2020-04-25T12:11:49","modified_gmt":"2020-04-25T18:11:49","slug":"football-career-sets-roadmap-for-former-rifle-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/football-career-sets-roadmap-for-former-rifle-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Football career sets roadmap for former Rifle back"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/PresslerPic-1024x664.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/PresslerPic-1024x664.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/PresslerPic-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/PresslerPic-768x498.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/PresslerPic-1536x995.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/PresslerPic-2048x1327.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><figcaption><strong>Brooks Pressler playing for CMU. Photo courtesy of Paul Cloud \/ paulcloud.zenfolio.com<\/strong><br \/><em>PresslerPic<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Football shaped former Rifle High School standout Brooks Pressler.<\/p>\n<p>Amid nearly 15 years of injuries, setbacks and saying goodbye to teammates, he pushed through \u2013 setting himself up with a foundation of perseverance moving forward into non-athletic life.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/rifle\/brooks-pressler-im-just-glad-to-be-a-part-of-all-this\/\">The injuries he sustained as a pre-collegiate athlete are well-known.<\/a> A high ankle sprain was the culprit behind diluting much of Pressler\u2019s final attempt at a state title.<\/p>\n<p>Once he entered Colorado Mesa University, courtesy of a scholarship, the drive began anew for a championship.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI looked up to so many guys that were older than me. Once I was finally a college football player, I wanted to be a role model for those younger than me,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Life had other plans, however \u2014 Pressler suffered a torn ACL in his second year, followed by a fractured foot and hand in his third and fourth years respectively. Ailments limited him to six games in his career as a hybrid safety\/linebacker at CMU.<\/p>\n<p>Still, he was able to be part of three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really think my career would\u2019ve gone better if the injuries weren\u2019t in the way,\u201d Pressler said. \u201cUnfortunately, there\u2019s nothing you can do about that. I think the only thing that kept me going was (my mindset of) sticking with it.<\/p>\n<p>All the while, playing or inactive, Pressler made sure to keep a focus on his main goal: success in school.<\/p>\n<p>Following his final year as a Maverick, Pressler was named to the National Football Foundation\u2019s Hampshire Honor Society. His 3.75 grade point average as a senior was merely a portion of his 3.4 college GPA. Six of his teammates were also named to the list of athletes who finished the year with at least a 3.2 GPA.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe that football was secondary, and school is what allowed me to play football,\u201d Pressler said. \u201cIf there was no school, there was no football. What you\u2019re taking out of school is what\u2019s going to provide you with tools to be successful in life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The whole process saw Pressler\u2019s parents take a passenger role. After coaching him for many years, Rod Pressler, his father, allowed him to transfer high schools.<\/p>\n<p>Brooks was in charge of every decision from battling through rehab and surgeries to picking a college destination.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were times, with the ups and downs, where I felt guilty,\u201d Rod said. \u201cI go, \u2018Why did I even introduce them to sports?\u2019 Those things run through your mind. But then your kid comes back and tells you that they were some of the best experiences he ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following graduation, Pressler has found multiple new passions and challenges.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside helping his dad with drywall, he also picked up hours as a substitute teacher at his alma mater in Rifle before school went digital because of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Yet his final destination still isn\u2019t known. What\u2019s certain is the challenges he\u2019s experienced so far have Brooks on a path for success \u2013 something which his father realized standing on the field during Senior Day in Grand Junction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re just so proud as a parent,\u201d Rod said. \u201c(It\u2019s great) to be recognized for seeing this through, and these are not just athletic achievements, but these are academic achievements. It goes a long way for a parent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are things that are just going to make him stronger and build his future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"mailto:lzahlmann@postindependent.com\">lzahlmann@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/sports\/football-career-sets-roadmap-for-former-rifle-back\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brooks Pressler playing for CMU. Photo courtesy of Paul Cloud \/ paulcloud.zenfolio.comPresslerPic Football shaped former Rifle High School standout Brooks Pressler. Amid nearly 15 years of injuries, setbacks and saying goodbye to teammates, he pushed through \u2013 setting himself up with a foundation of perseverance moving forward into non-athletic life. The injuries he sustained as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1319631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-04 00:58:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}