Hall of Fame
Returning a kickoff up the middle of the field in a game against Kimball High School his senior year, at one point Brent Elkins, suddenly hit low, did a complete flip that landed him cat-like on his feet. He kept going until hit again in the ankles, when he managed another aerial 360, and regained his balance before being successfully tackled from behind. The winner that year of the Ranger Heart Award, Elkins recalls that play as perhaps the one that most impressed college recruiters.
A 1973 TCIL All-State selection and Prep All-American, Elkins captained Jesuit to runner-up status in the state championship and received both the Jesuit Award as the student most representative of Jesuit and the School’s scholar-athlete award.
The Ranger who returned two interceptions for touchdowns in the state semifinal against St. Gerard’s (San Antonio) was a three-sport standout in high school, excelling as well in both baseball and track.
The starting centerfielder on the 1973 Rangers baseball team, the first to win a state championship, Elkins was selected All-District three years and All-State for two. In track, Elkins won the broad jump his senior year at the Sheaner Relays, while placing third in the same event at the TCIL State Championship meet.
Elkins turned down a football scholarship to Notre Dame to play at Louisiana State University. A three-year varsity letterman at LSU, he was moved up to the travel squad as a freshman and got the coaches “big hit of the week” in his first collegiate game. In the 1978 Liberty Bowl, his final college game, Elkins had six solo tackles and one interception, after which Ara Parseghian, the color commentator for ABC, boasted to the national viewing audience that he had recuited Elkins from Jesuit Dallas.
