Hopkins Family Reunion in Nashville

Bowl Central
Music City Bowl
Tickets: From the Bowl / StubHub

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Brad Hopkins still laughs when telling the story.

Hopkins' son, current Purdue tight end Brycen Hopkins, couldn't have been with more than 2 years old, and he was playing on the floor with Jon Runyan, Jr., son of Jon Runyan, a teammate of Brad Hopkins at the time with the Tennessee Titans.

"They were crawling around, having fun," Brad recalls. "And that's when Little John started to crawl over Brycen ... and he bites him. We all had a good laugh."

Look at Brycen Hopkins now. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound junior has emerged as one of the Big Ten's top tight ends, earning third-team all-conference honors from the media and honorable mention from the coaches this season after catching 32 passes for 564 yards and two touchdowns. This after grabbing 25 passes for 349 yards and three scores in 2017. (By the way: Runyan, Jr., is doing OK, too, starting at offensive tackle for Michigan.)

"It is hard to believe Brycen is all grown up now," says Brad Hopkins, a former Illinois offensive tackle who enjoyed a standout career in the National Football League with the Titans. "He is a good young man, and I am proud of him."

Now, father will get to see son play on his old stomping grounds in Nashville when Purdue takes on Auburn in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl on Dec. 28 at Nissan Stadium. It's a chance for Brycen and Purdue to punctuate the season with a victory to finish 7-6 for a second year in a row under head coach Jeff Brohm. It's also a chance for Brycen's family to see him up close.

"It will be fun," Brycen says. "I have a lot of good memories of that stadium.

"I remember after games at home, my dad always being happy and playful with us. If the Titans lost, he would take us to a room adjacent to the main locker room and chase us around and be happy. I don't think he wanted his teammates to see him having fun after a loss. He was a great dad for us, win or lose."

A family atmosphere was fostered around the Titans complex, as the players would bring their kids to the team facility for walk-thrus on Saturday. Kids scrambled around the turf playing catch, fathers chased sons and daughters, kids laughed, wives - including Brycen's mother Kellie - smiled. It was a great time for family and team bonding.

"Those were fun days," Brad Hopkins says. "The staff knew we all appreciated it. Heck, Brycen practically grew up there. He was always around the facility. Guys like Eddie George and Steve McNair would push him around a cart. Great times and great memories."

Hopkins was a star offensive tackle for the Titans from 1993 to 2005, following the organization from Houston to Nashville via Memphis. He is a franchise icon who was a key player on a Tennessee team that reached the Super Bowl in the 1999 season.

"When I heard that Purdue was coming to Nashville, I was excited," says Brad, who has another son, Collin, who is a catcher at Western Kentucky, and a daughter, Gentry, on the dance team at Tennessee. "I had a feeling this would work out when I heard about the bowl possibilities for Purdue."

Brycen was sitting in his room when he got a message on his phone that Purdue was headed to his hometown to play a bowl.

"I thought we were going to go to New York," he says. "I couldn't believe it."

His first text after getting the news? It went to his father, who else?

Hopkins wasn't highly recruited out of Ensworth High School in Nashville, allowing him to slip under the radar and land at Purdue back in 2016.

"Brycen was a good athlete who played a lot of sports growing up," Brad says. "He didn't go out for football until late in his high school career. He really liked basketball. Because of that, he didn't get a lot exposure and wasn't a hot recruit."

Brycen never dreamed of playing college football.

"But I kept getting better," he says. "I wanted to go to Vanderbilt, but they didn't offer. I ended up getting some good offers later in my career."

What about Illinois, his dad's alma mater?

"They didn't think I was fast enough," Brycen says. "I used to play with big braces on my knees, and they thought I was too slow."

Now, Hopkins is emerging as one of the top tight ends in the Big Ten. And he is looking to end this season with a bang in his hometown and use it as a spring board into a big season in 2019.

"We want to get a win vs. Auburn," he says. "This is a great opportunity."