Manatee pass rusher Brett Gerber commits to Yale

Brett Gerber had narrowed his prospective college list to three and in one June trip through the Northeast he would see all three.

The Manatee High School rising senior flew to New York with his father to visit the United States Military Academy at West Point (Army). He traveled to Connecticut to visit Yale and finished the three-school swing in Massachusetts at Harvard.

He gained a sense of the unique personalities of each — one a rigid military academy and the other two prestigious Ivy League stalwarts. A week later was ready to make his college choice.

“Just speaking to the players, speaking to the coaches, being on campus and around everyone at Yale, I just felt like I belonged there. And the thing that really impressed me the most was probably the passion everybody had for football, but also for something else,” Gerber said. “Everyone wanted to be great at football, but everyone had other goals they wanted to be equally good at.”

The pass rusher, who transferred to Manatee during the winter after playing his first three high school seasons at Bradenton Christian, chose the Football Championship Subdivison program over a handful of offers from Football Bowl Subdivision schools, including South Florida and Southern Mississippi.

Gerber, whose father is former Panthers head coach Allan Gerber, was a three-year standout as a linebacker for Bradenton Christian and led the county in total tackles each of the past two seasons.

Gerber was a second-team All-Area selection by the Herald during each of the past two seasons and helped Bradenton Christian reach the postseason for the first time in school history during the fall. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound middle linebacker and defensive end finished his junior year with 163 total tackles to help the Panthers reach the Sunshine State Athletic Conference playoffs as a wild-card team.

The rising senior also recorded two sacks, forced two fumbles, recovered another and blocked two punts. As an athlete on offense, Gerber ran for 73 yards and recorded another 54 receiving yards. He ran for one touchdown and four two-point conversions for BCS.

Yale envisions Gerber as an inside linebacker to start, although the younger Gerber said his conversations with linebackers coach Sean McGowan and defensive line coach Jordan Stevens suggested a potential move to defensive end depending on how his body develops in the Bulldogs’ weight program.

If Gerber follows through with his commitment to the Bulldogs, he’ll give the Hurricanes an Ivy League-bound player for the third straight year. Specialist Nickolas Null went to Cornell in the Class of 2016 and guard Seth Walter is headed to Dartmouth out of the Class of 2017.

“It really speaks to the development of Manatee’s football program and how they don’t just develop football players, but they develop good people and they encourage success in the classroom, on and off the field,” Gerber said. “I’m really fortunate to have the opportunity to become part of such a prestigious league.”

This story was originally published June 22, 2017 at 11:59 PM with the headline "Manatee pass rusher Brett Gerber commits to Yale."