Elon University men’s basketball freshman walk-on Wes Brewer didn’t have to come to Elon, the school so near and dear to his family’s heart. He didn’t come to Elon because his high school coach, Tommy Cole, who is a legend in his own right while donning the maroon and gold, encouraged him. He came to Elon because it made the most sense for him geographically.
“(Elon is) close to home. I’ve always been a home person, I want to stay close,” Brewer said. “I just fell in love with Elon. If Elon was three hours away, I’d still want to go to Elon because of the type of school it is.”
Brewer felt most comfortable at Elon, a school and basketball team he grew up with and been around his entire life.
“I grew up coming to games,” Brewer said. “My mom went here, and then my cousin was a cheerleader here back in the late ‘90s. She was a cheerleader here and then she’s been the cheerleading coach since then. We always came to the games and were around them because of her. The last couple years, I’ve followed Elon basketball a lot and I’ve liked the school.”
Brewer knew there were several coaches from smaller programs after him, but he already had his heart set on the Phoenix.
“I was coming to Elon for sure. I always wanted to,” Brewer said. “I had a couple small-school offers for full rides, so I gave them a shot, but I didn’t really like any of them. So I decided I still wanted to come to Elon. So I came and talked to Coach Roberson first and then I talked to (head coach Matt) Matheny the same day. Both of them told me I had a really good shot at walking on.”
To do so, Matheny and Roberson told Brewer to work on his game and fitness heading into his two-day tryout later that summer. Brewer’s performance at the tryout led to the roster spot he had so coveted.
“They just told me to come during the summer when all the guys were here,” Brewer said. “I played pick-up with all of them and got to know them this summer. They just told me to come back and be in really good shape. In the months of July and August, I worked out really hard and got in really good shape. This fall, I just started back playing with them and working out and gotten to know all of them. Then tryouts were just two days, cranked those out and I’m on the team.”
Matheny knew Brewer years before he had tried out for his team, through various camps the Elon coaching staff has provided for Burlington area kids.
“Wes, being from the Burlington community, has been in our camps, both (our) team camp and also our individual camp,” Matheny said. “So we’ve got to know him over the past couple of years.”
Junior guard Jack Isenbarger, one of the team’s five starters, said he sees a lot of himself in Brewer.
“He kind of reminds me of myself coming in freshman year, a little bit more on the quiet side, kind of shy, but has a big heart,” Isenbarger said. “I’m excited to spend the next two years with him on the team and by my side and getting better in practice with him.”
While hanging out with teammates off the court, Isenbarger said he’s come to learn Brewer is a celebrity in the Burlington area.
“Wes is a local star. It’s fun to go out and hang out with him around Burlington,” Isenbarger said. “We go out to eat with him and families are saying hi. For example, this morning after church, we went out to eat and multiple families said hi to him and treated him like a big star. It’s fun to have a guy like Wes on the team.”
On the court, junior forward Ryley Beaumont said Brewer is a valuable teammate to have, especially in practice.
“It helps us out having guys like Wes,” Beaumont said. “He’s a strong guy. He’s definitely got some body weight to him and he throws it around in practice. Those guys are really important.”
But Brewer admits practice has been demanding thus far.
“There’s a difference for me and (fellow freshman walk-on) Sam (Hershberger),” Brewer said. “I wouldn’t say it’s because we’re walk-ons. It’s because we don’t know the offense. So when we go live and start working on the offense, Coach Wooten told us before, even at (North) Carolina, they didn’t slow down for him, so they’re not going to slow down for walk-ons. It’s been tough trying to pick up on the offense and trying to do stuff. The past week it’s been tough trying to pay attention and learn how to do it all, because they’re not slowing down to show us step-by-step.”
Even so, Brewer is determined to be successful, so much that he isn’t satisfied with simply making the Phoenix squad as a practice player.
“It felt good when you were finally officially a member of the team, but there’s still a lot of work left to do,” Brewer said. “I’m not settling for where I’m at now. I feel like a lot of walk-ons, once they make the team, they just settle as a walk-on. I don’t want to settle.”