For tight ends Gesicki and Breneman, lessons in adversity, prosperity created close bond

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – This season they could both push for the title of college football’s top tight end, but before Mike Gesicki and Adam Breneman arrived at their senior seasons they had to move past the lows of 2015.

“I was in a pretty bad place mentally,” said Breneman, once a highly-touted Pennsylvania prospect from Cedar Cliff High School whose enrollment with the Nittany Lions in 2013 made him an immediate fan favorite. After playing as a true freshman Breneman missed the entire 2014 season due to injury and then missed most of the 2015 season -- except for two games -- with a knee injury that ultimately ended his Penn State career.

“There were times where I didn’t want to walk into the football building. I just didn’t want to go," he told DKPittsburghSports.com. "You feel like you’re letting people down when really I was hurt and it was out of my control.”

Staying at home wasn’t necessarily a stress-free environment, either. Gesicki, Breneman's roommate and now a projected 2018 NFL Draft pick, was in the midst of his drop-plagued sophomore season. Gesicki became the butt of jokes and was mocked by fans on Twitter as the Nittany Lions’ struggling offense with coordinator John Donovan and quarterback Christian Hackenberg came under fire.



Two of Hackenberg’s top targets couldn’t help alleviate the offense’s problems because of their own struggles so as the tight end’s careers spiraled the two roommates bonded.

“We got really close,” Breneman said. “During that season there would be times where Mike would get back from a game and he’d have a drop or something and he’d start searching himself on Twitter and reading what people were saying. He would laugh about it, but you know that stuff hurts. It’s tough. He was probably 19 years old at the time and it’s tough to listen to it.”

The lows of 2015 resulted in the launching point for both of their careers. Gesicki, long praised for his freakish athleticism and lofty testing numbers, cut himself off of social media and made it his goal to outwork everyone. It resulted in 2016 being his best season yet with 48 catches for 679 yards and and five touchdowns.

Breneman graduated from Penn State in December of 2015, just three years after he started, and announced his retirement from football because of chronic knee injuries. He moved home and began a career in politics as a campaign manager for state representative Mike Regan. The six months spent working on the campaign were life altering.

Away from daily workouts and rigorous training, his knee began to feel better and he started an under-the-radar comeback attempt that is not so private anymore.

What began as pain-free running on the treadmill and progressed to lifting and football drills with his longtime trainer resulted in Breneman signing with UMass last summer. It was a comeback that Breneman wasn't even sure would happen as casual workouts turned more serious and his high school quarterback and longtime friend, Andrew Ford, encouraged him to get back into football as Ford was in the process of transferring to UMass.

"For this comeback to happen I needed a fresh start," Breneman said. "I needed to be just a little bit under the radar and I had the connections at UMass. It just made perfect sense to me from almost every angle. ... I took an official visit to UMass and committed right after and then enrolled for training camp."

Last season the tight end looked more like the high school prospect Penn State thought it was getting with 70 catches for 808 yards and eight touchdowns.

“The tough thing was people always say follow your heart and my heart has always been at Penn State, but sometimes you have to make business decisions," Breneman said. "I think this has worked out for everyone.”

Both Gesicki and Breneman are preseason Mackey Award nominees who after this season will push for spots in the NFL. That process they plan to go through together. Until then, expect plenty of trash talk to take place. The two pals continue a friendly competition that dates back to that mentally taxing 2015 season.