Hard knocks inspire athlete to pen book

This semester is going to be pretty busy for Brashaad Mayweather, a senior 22-year-old business administration student from Baltimore. Between a new position on arena football team the Corpus Christi Sharks, and the promotion and release of his new book, “Control or be Controlled,” he has a lot on his plate. 

At a very young age Mayweather became interested in football. It was after receiving a set of football equipment that he knew he wanted to become a professional football player. Mayweather’s mother didn’t like his decision, but in the 7th grade she allowed him to tryout for the football team. 

When it was time for him to take football to a collegiate level he found that it wasn’t easy. His high school coach didn’t believe in his talent and felt he was not good enough to play football on a full-scholarship. Things only became worse when Mayweather decided to play at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff. He was red-shirted his freshman year, then his coach resigned, leaving Mayweather to fend for himself. 

“A new coach came in and played only the players he recruited,” Mayweather said. “After sitting on the bench for a couple of games I decided to leave and pursue my football career somewhere else.” 

With a new school came a new outlook for Mayweather. He decided that after being controlled and misguided he would take control of his life and especially his football career. 

“The advice came from my mom,” he said. “She told me that I could not have one man controlling my destiny; it was either I take control or be controlled.” 

With the many obstacles he faced throughout his football career, Mayweather decided he needed a way to give back and give advice to other aspiring athletes. That Mission led him to self publish his own book.

“I started writing the book with the intentions of giving guidance to athletes,” Mayweather said. “Most people don’t know what goes on behind the scenes with sports.

“In the book I explain that you can have other people do things for you, or you can basically do things yourself. I became my own publisher because I wanted to take control of what I was doing,” he said. 

Some of the other advice Mayweather includes in his book is how to choose the right college, how to contact coaches and how to deal with the recruiting process. 

The information gathered for the book was taken from Mayweather’s personal experiences throughout his football career. He also included advice and information collected from NFL scouts, coaches, players, agents and other professional football sources. 

In an effort to publicize his book, Mayweather is working with a group of students who are on his marketing plan team. The students, who are in a sports marketing class at FAMU, are helping with the marketing and finance as well as establishing interviews. They are also involved in getting the book placed in different bookstores. 

So far things Mayweather said things are successful. He is scheduled to appear, Feb. 13, on ABC 27’s morning show at 6:30 a.m. and FAMU TV-20 at 5 p.m.

“Control or be Controlled” is set to be released Feb. 15.