Dolphins linebacker Brennan Scarlett balances great passions including, yes, football

You want to believe Brennan Scarlett is all about football and, of course, a great part of his passion and diligence focus on being a new Miami Dolphins linebacker.

There’s no doubt about that because Scarlett looks the part. When he finally arrives in Miami for the team’s veteran minicamp next month, he’ll be on the field at 6-foot-4 and 263 pounds and ready to compete.

“I’m really excited to be part of the Miami Dolphins organization,” Scarlett said last week. “As I talk with coaches and teammates, there’s an emphasis on team that I’m very excited about. It’s a program that is focused on winning and I’m excited to be a part of that.

“I’m also excited to be a good teammate. I’m excited to play as hard as I can and put my best foot forward every day at practice and every Sunday. And I’m excited to do that with a Miami Dolphins jersey on.”

So we’re good.

Brennan Scarlett, NFL linebacker, Dolphins free agent signing, and likely special teams and depth contributor has the football part on lock.

But there’s more. And it requires great balance.

Did you know Scarlett has a business degree from the University of California at Berkeley? And a Master’s degree from Stanford in Management Science and Engineering?

“A little bit of a mouthful,” Scarlett admits, “but it’s an engineering degree. It helps support and encourage my love for entrepreneurship and business. It was tough but it was amazing.”

Scarlett is spending this offseason balancing preparation for his Dolphins debut with his other passions.

He’s currently in Portland, OR., working out and attending Dolphins meetings via Zoom while also managing his Big Yard Foundation. And that’s no small feat right now because Big Yard is donating 100 scholarships to improve the reading skills of children in kindergarten through the fourth grade by opening access to a new AI-based literacy tutor.

The AI program is called Amira Learning.

“Amira Learning is an intelligent reading assistant,” Scarlett said. “So, basically, if you know Amazon Alexa, it’s an Alexa to teach your kid how to read. So basically kids are able to use the software and read stories to Alexa and the software can correct them if they’re saying a word wrong and help them through it.

“It can help with how they pronounce. Also it’s an early screener for dyslexia. so if there are certain trends that the technology can see that the kid is struggling with dyslexia, it can bookmark that and notify the teacher, parent, whoever has facilitated the use of the software. From anything from pronunciation to their cadence -- if they can’t read the word -- it stops them and actually helps them how to say the word and take them through it.”

Aside from helping to fund the scholarships Scarlett is participating in the program by checking in on the kids virtually once a week.

“We’re checking in, shouting them out, encouraging the kids to keep going, keep reading,” Scarlett said. “One parent said that their kid instead of watching TV in the morning, they want to get on Amira. There’s been good engagement.”

One student asked Scarlett how much food he needs to eat to maintain his playing weight. Scarlett said it’s about good nutrition and added he makes sure to eat at least four salads per week among his meals.

Scarlett also told the children he loves creative writing (possible bad news for columnist Salguero) and that was born in the eighth grade when he wrote a paper about his feelings on the basketball court.

“Any kind of community impact that I can strive for, if I can change one or two kids’ outlook on reading or school in general,” Scarlett said, “I think I’ve done my job and I’m happy about that.”

And why, you might wonder, is a professional athlete spending part of his offseason trying to engage kids in elementary school?

“So, first off, literacy is something that’s really close to my heart,” Scarlett said. “I love to read. I had a lot of support as a kid from parents, grandparents, great teachers, people supported that I loved to read. So for me, as I look to give back to my communities, especially the ones have been more historically disadvantaged, I’ve tried to figure out ways to provide that support for kids -- especially ones that don’t have it.

“Parents don’t have the time -- working two jobs or whatever -- they can use Amira and leverage the technology.”

It’s fair to say the 3.8 grade point average Scarlett earned in high school could have gotten him an academic scholarship but he had the athletic ability to go a different direction. Still, his decision on a school was as much about the school as about the school’s football program.

“From a young age, education was always stressed to me by my parents and grand parents,” Scarlett said. “So in choosing my school, I was fortunate enough to have some college scholarships but I made sure to focus wherever I was going to go based on what the education opportunity was as well.

“I went and got a business degree from Berkeley which was a great experience. And then it was kind of the same thing again, I was going to play a fifth year and I was trying to figure out my next step and where and how to do that.

“And the opportunity to play at Stanford and get a master’s degree from one of the best universities in the world while also playing football presented itself. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up and I’m grateful for it.”

One lesson school may not necessarily teach that is serving Scarlett both privately and professionally is how to manage his time. How to balance his passions.

“Just the lessons you learn playing sports growing up, time management was an early lesson I learned,” he said. “How to make sure I’m getting my homework done and also going to practice and getting a little extra studying in and maybe getting a little extra work in on a Saturday.

“Those lessons and qualities I learned at a young age that were supported and taught by my parents took me through college and [are] still taking me through today.”

Scarlett’s role on the Dolphins, be it providing depth or help on special teams or even as a pass-rush option, will be defined primarily at training camp.

The Portland native will make the very long trek to South Florida by himself prior to the team’s veteran camp to acclimate to the weather. But some of the support he gets from his family back home is almost certain to follow.

“I’ll be the lone wolf to get started but mom always finds a way to come out to the games,” Scarlett said. “I need mom in the stands so we’ll get her out there and hopefully she can spend, who knows, maybe a couple of weeks at a time. She’s not going to complain about being in Miami.”