Jake Brendel

Classroom

Jake Brendel owns one of the highest GPAs on the team with a 3.4 in the challenging economics major. He has been named first-team Academic All-Conference in each of the past three years and was selected to 2014 CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 football team. He has earned a spot on the UCLA Athletic Director’s Academic Honor roll for the last four years, and he was presented the 2011 team award winner for Academic and Athletic Balance.

Character

Brendel has been named a team co-captain in 2013, 2014 and 2015. He was presented the 2014 team award for Best Leadership and the 2001 team award for Academic and Athletic Balance. His grade-point average has consistently ranked among the top handful on the team over his four years in the program.

Community

Brendel has been actively involved in numerous community service opportunities during his years at UCLA. He has served as a peer-mentor for children with developmental disabilities in the Prime Time Games program. He also has taken part in a series of visits to our local veterans hospital for interaction with those who have served our country in the military and has visited a local school to interact with the kids and encourage them to be active and to stress the value of education.

Competition

Brendel has started 39 career games at center for the Bruins. He was a second-team All-Pac-12 Conference selection in 2014, and he paved the way for the Pac-12’s leading rusher in 2014, who ran for the second-highest rushing total in school history. He also helped pass-protect for the school record-setter in touchdown passes for a career over the last three seasons and was named honorable mention all-conference in 2013. In 2012, he was a key blocker opening the holes for the leading rusher in UCLA history who set marks for season rushing, season all-purpose yardage and most 100-yard rushing games in a season. Brendel also has been on the Rimington Watch List, which honors the nation’s top center, in each of the past three preseasons. In 2012 he was named first-team Freshman All-America team by Sporting News and second-team by collegefootballnews.com. He also was presented with the team award for Most Improved Player.