FAMU athletes spending summer fine-tuning future

Brandon Hepburn #53
Linebacker, 6'4/235, Redshirt Junior
Pomona, New York
Major: Biochemistry

Excerpt:

Tallahassee, FL - Brandon Hepburn, a linebacker with the Rattlers, isn't banking on making it to the NFL. He is majoring in biochemistry. This summer he is at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, where he is participating in a program funded by the National Science Foundation.

"The opportunity is great because it allows us to step out of the classroom and apply what we've been learning," Hepburn said. "It's great to be able to put it into work in the actual environment in which you plan to get a career in one day.

"I think one of the big things with Corporate America is, 'Can you do what we want you to do how we want you to do it?'"

That's part of what FAMU's Career Center does under director Delores Dean. Students aren't just settling for the odd jobs but focusing more on what will benefit their careers, Dean said, adding the tough job market has also brought a change of attitude about limiting the areas they might want to work.

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FAMU football will not settle for second

Just as quickly as the question was posed for a reaction to Florida A&M being picked to finish second in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, linebacker Brandon Hepburn fired off his response. Just the reference of South Carolina State being predicted to win the conference for a third consecutive season was enough to get Hepburn fired up.

"I don't really care what they had to say," Hepburn said Tuesday. "We worked too hard during the summer and me and my brothers are going to the championship. Point blank. Period. That's all I have to say about it." But he went on. "We're not being No. 2 — at all. The MEAC is ours and it's time to reclaim what is ours. If you don't want to be the best, why do we play football?"

FAMU will actually have to play football like it didn't play last year when it finished 8-3 and and finished in second place for the second straight year. The Rattlers finished as predicted last season, but the previous year they beat the odds in coach Joe Taylor's first season at the helm by finishing second instead of seventh as was predicted.



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