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Tuscaloosa in September but has since canceled that trip. Brisker :nished the 2017 season with 54 tackles (30 solo, 24 assisted) and four in- terceptions, two of which he took back for touchdowns. Pardini said Lackawanna rarely plays freshmen, but the coaches knew early in the season that Brisker had to see the :eld. "It's very hard to start as a freshman for us," Pardini said. "Brisker was our backup safety weeks one and two, strictly for the fact that he was a freshman and we had some older guys that just knew the de- fense and knew our system better. "But when it came to ability, it was so noticeable in training camp, so we were al- ways looking for ways to get him on the :eld. We thought about outside linebacker at one point, but once we went into the second game, which we won pretty hand- ily, we were able get him a lot of time. He ended up taking his :rst interception 100 yards for a score. On top of that, the start- ing free safety got injured earlier in that game. From that point forward, it was ba- sically his job, and he hasn't looked back. From then on, everyone on the defense, young or old, knew who the best player was in our unit. Whenever we needed a play or needed a stop, he was the guy." Before heading to Lackawanna, Brisker attended Gateway High School, where Smith was once the head coach. Smith le= the school to start his college coach- ing career before Brisker's freshman sea- son, but the two were acquainted. "In fourth or :=h grade, I was actually the water boy for the high school team," Brisker said. "So I've known Coach Smith for a real long time. Our relationship is real good. We're tight." Brisker :nished his :rst year at Lack- awanna with a 3.2 GPA, but he's still ex- pected to complete two more semesters at the junior college, as it will be di

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