Isaiah Brumfield

Strength coach who opens the weight room at five in the morning

Sports

SAMPLE PROFILE — FILM SLOT

His story is coming to the series soon.

Scout Team

Isaiah Brumfield grew up in Rockford wanting to play college football, and technically he did. He walked on at a small school in Iowa and spent four years on the scout team. He dressed for six games. He played in one.

That could've made him bitter, and for a season it did. But somewhere in year two he noticed he loved the weight room more than the field, and that the strength coach had the best job in the building.

Nobody claps at 6 a.m. You lift anyway. That's the whole secret, and it's free.

Five A.M.

He earned his strength and conditioning certification the summer after graduation and took the first job that would have him. In 2022 that job was at Parkland College, and he moved to Champaign with everything he owned in a Corolla.

Now he opens the weight room at five in the morning, five days a week. Ballplayers, softball kids, a few walk-ons who remind him of himself. He tells them the truth. Most of them won't go pro. All of them can get strong, and strong carries over.