Arizona State football: Meet Champ Westbrooks

Not only does Kenny Dillingham want to recruit good players on the field but another goal of his is to get good humans as well. He without a doubt succeeded with that goal when picking up a pledge from this three-star offensive lineman from Loyola High School in Los Angeles. Meet Champ Westbrooks. Westbrooks is not only a great player, but a great person.

Meet Champ Westbrooks

Growing up Champ Westbrooks had a football player to look up to… his father. Westbrooks’ father played football throughout his early years and played through college, he attended Compton College.

For Champ football was always the sport that he wanted to play and grew up with NFL aspirations. Throughout most of his early years, Westbrooks played defense, mainly defensive line. That is until he got to high school.

Like so many schools around the country, players are needed to play on both sides of the ball. During his sophomore and junior years, Westbrooks played offensive line after primarily being a defensive lineman for many years.

As time went on he finally got the chance to go back to playing defensive line, the position he loves most.

Westbrooks’ football mindset

For Westbrooks, his mindset was very different from other players. While on defense he had to think about tackling the QB, but on offense he had to protect others from tackling his QB.

“It’s a mindset thing. Like, you know, you just got to mentally prepare yourself,” Westbrooks explained. “Like when I’m going on defense, I’m thinking like, I got to go get the QB.  And then on offense, if it’s like passes like I got to protect my guy during the run, it’s like, oh, they got to kill him, you know? So it’s just mentally preparing yourself for that.”

Westbrooks said that he loves playing both sides of the ball because it helps him understand what the other player may do, whether it be the offensive lineman or defensive lineman. 

“The edge helps a lot, like going up against our offensive linemen and then going up against our defensive linemen,” Westbrooks continued. “Like I know what’s going to happen because I know what’s being taught, so I know how to defend it. And then especially like in the games, like it’s very similar to what we teach. So I know how to defend it and I know how to go against other linemen.”

Preparation is key, Westbrooks understands that.

The recruiting process for Champ Westbrooks

For many, the recruiting process is a chance to get your name out there and celebrate your accomplishments and what you have done to this point. For Westbrooks, he not only loved talking to coaches but more importantly loved having his family be involved in the process as well.

“It was extremely important because my family always supported me,” Westbrooks said. “They’ve always been at every game, like everything they can make it to. And it was just important to have them there for a big decision like that, to commit to where I want to go. It’s just, you know a big decision, you live for the next four years and like, you know, get better. So it really was important to have it there.”

Not only was his family involved in the process, but for him Arizona State felt like family to him.

“Yeah, it’s extremely family-oriented,” Westbrooks emphasized. “Like on my official visit, everybody knew each other. They were friends. They were joking and laughing. And even when they had disagreements since they were always debating like kids at a lunch table. And it was like just a fun environment to be around and just to watch.”

While ASU as a whole was great during his visit one thing stood out to him more than anything that impacted his decision: offensive line coach Saga Tuitele.

The impact of Saga Tuitele

One of the main reasons that Westbrooks ended up at ASU was because of Tuitele and he raved about him during the interview.

“It’s a great relationship,” Westbrooks said. “Like during the recruitment process, like if I wanted to right now, I could call him and check in on his family and see how they are. So it was great that I got to meet them on my official visit and interact with them, but it’s been a really great process, especially with these coaches.”

A glimpse into Champ Westbrooks off the field

As important as it is to be a great player on the field, it also helps to be a great person off the field as well. For Westbrooks, throughout his life he has always wanted to help the community in any way possible.

Until high school he did not have many opportunities to help the community, but made the most of the chances he had when they appeared. 

“Oh, it really started in high school,” Westbrooks began. “Like I haven’t really had the opportunities before then, but Loyola gave me those opportunities. I really like to utilize them. And as of right now, as of last summer, I was working on a project where Loyola would have a camp for orphans and foster care, foster youth. And we were just like, be there, teach them stuff and have like a camp, you know, give them a fun time. But that was really big for me to see them, like, grow, not grow, but like, have fun,  get out of their shell. Because when they first show up, they’re kind of quiet and like by the end of the camp, they’re happy and smiling and just having fun.”

Bringing his community work to Tempe

Just because Westbrooks is graduating from Loyola in the coming days that is not going to stop him from doing community work in Tempe as well.

Westbrooks wants to translate the work he has done in his hometown to work in Tempe and the surrounding areas. 

“There’s a lot of opportunities to help the community and I’d like to do that. I volunteer out here, so I want to do it on or over at ASU and Tempe and just, you know, be a good figure out there,” Westbrooks said.

Not only is Westbrooks a great player on the field but a great person off the field that ASU fans will get to know very well over the coming months.

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