You sometimes hear about the valuable life lessons these major college football players are taught during their careers.

 

Important things such as hard work, dedication, commitment, dependability, teamwork, competitiveness, handling adversity and so forth … phrases, concepts and attributes that are drilled into the brains of each and every player as soon as they arrive on campus.

 

Well, West Virginia University senior defensive end Isaiah Bruce has had to rely on all of these important aspects to get through a college football career full of highs and lows and twists and turns – the very same things he’s about to encounter in life once he leaves the Milan Puskar Center for good.

 

“Life is not always going to be easy,” he laughed. “You are definitely going to hit a lot of adversity and I think football has taught me that.”

 

Indeed, it has.

 

Bruce experienced immediate success as a freshman outside linebacker in 2012, ranking second on the team to fellow freshman Karl Joseph in tackles with 94 while also accumulating 6½ tackles for losses and a pair of interceptions. He earned freshman All-America honors that season and was on the fast track toward becoming one of the most productive linebackers in school history.

 

But since then, his playing time has declined dramatically as the defensive coordinators have changed, first from Joe DeForest to Keith Patterson and then to Tony Gibson two years ago.

 

Bruce has played for four different defensive coaches during his college career if you count the guy who recruited him (Jeff Casteel), and he’s learned that nothing is ever permanent, especially in college football.

 

Each coach Bruce has played for has had his own way of doing things, requiring Isaiah to figure out what was expected of him and what he needed to do in order to meet those specific demands.

 

“Things are going to hit you that you don’t expect,” Bruce explained. “You’ve got to prepare for the worst – and prepare as much as possible and just be ready for anything.”

 

Failing to prepare is preparing for failure – haven’t we all heard that before?

 

Bruce learned this valuable lesson early on in his career, and what he has experienced as a Mountaineer has already put him far ahead of most of his classmates when the real game is about to begin for him soon.

 

He’s already learned how to handle the abrupt changes that frequently occur in life and how to adjust to a new way of doing things in an extremely competitive environment. Of equal importance, he’s learned how to get on board with the changes going on around him, which is perhaps the most valuable lesson of all.

 

It was Bruce who approached defensive coordinator Tony Gibson before the season to offer his services at defensive end. Isaiah realized his opportunities were going to be limited at linebacker with the players the Mountaineers had returning at those positions, but defensive end was a place where he might be able to get back out onto the field on a more regular basis to help out the team.

 

“Isaiah had so much success early as a freshman and then the scheme changed, and then the coordinator changed and he played for three different coordinators as all of these seniors did. He approached me earlier this year and said, ‘Coach, I want to help any way I can.’ He said he could play D-end and in hindsight, I wish we would have made that move a year ago to get him some more reps,” Gibson noted.

 

“I’ve learned when to be patient and when not to be patient,” Bruce added.

 

What he’s also learned is that no matter what your circumstances are, at some point you are going to have to chip in and do something unexpected or even unwanted for the greater good.

 

“It takes a collective group to make one goal happen,” Bruce explained.

 

“I love the way he plays. He’s a guy who you talk about being an all-in-team-guy, here is a guy who moved from linebacker to D-line, bought into it, and is doing a great job. He’s a leader, he’s a great kid, he wins a bunch of awards in the weight room, plays hard and he’s smart,” Gibson said.

 

Last spring, Bruce earned his undergraduate degree in business management and he’s well down the path toward a master’s degree in marketing. Like all players, he wants to give pro football a shot, but understands the odds of that happening are not very favorable considering he’s started just 20 of the 49 career games he’s played in college.

 

Therefore, he’s had to come up with a very good Plan B.

 

“If (pro football) doesn’t work out for me I’m not going to be too bummed out about it. I did graduate last May with my business management degree and I’m currently working on my master’s in marketing. I definitely want to work in sales because I feel I can be pretty good in that field,” he said.

 

His coach certainly believes Bruce is on the path toward success using all of those valuable lessons he’s learned as a West Virginia University football player.

 

“Who knows, maybe one day he may hire me,” Gibson joked. “He’s done it the right way and I can’t say enough good stuff about him.”