Brandon Darrell Short (born July 11, 1977) is a former American college and professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for seven seasons. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

, and was recognized as an All-American. He played professionally for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

and

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

of the NFL, and was a member the Giants' team that played in

Super Bowl XXXV Super Bowl XXXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

. He is currently Director of Mergers and Acquisitions at Round Hill Capital in London and a member of the Pennsylvania State University's Board of Trustees.

Early years

Short was born in

McKeesport, Pennsylvania McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 17,727 as of the 2020 census. It ...

. He attended

McKeesport Area High School McKeesport Area High School is a public high school located in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, United States. The school, which is located at 1960 Eden Park Boulevard, serves students from Dravosburg, McKeesport, South Versailles, Versailles, and Whi ...

, where he played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

for the McKeesport Tigers. He was named

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

Pennsylvania Big School Player-of-the-Year as a senior after compiling 171 tackles, eight sacks, two

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

s, five forced fumbles, six fumble recoveries and one blocked punt and leading the Tigers to the Class AAAA state championship and a 15-0 record. He

lettered Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

four times in both

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. He was named to the ''USA Today'' list of Top 25 high school players in the country, a high school All-American and was the 1995 Big 33 Most Valuable Player. A superb basketball player as well, Short was a member of a McKeesport team that attained the No. 1 state ranking his senior year.

College career

Short attended Penn State University, where he was a four-year starter and two-time captain for coach

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...

Penn State Nittany Lions football The Penn State Nittany Lions team represents the Pennsylvania State University in college football. The Nittany Lions compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big Ten Conference, which they joined in 1993 afte ...

team. He was named defensive

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the 1998

Citrus Bowl The Citrus Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group that also organizes the Cheez-It Bowl and Florida Classic. The gam ...

, and All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

as a senior and junior. Short earned

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

honors as a senior in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

. He and teammate

LaVar Arrington LaVar RaShad Arrington (born June 30, 1978) is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at Penn State and was drafted second overall by the Washington Re ...

were the first teammates to be chosen as finalists for the

Butkus Award The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football. The award, named in honor of College Football Hall of Fame ...

as the nation's top

. Together they made up one of the most fearsome linebacker duos ever to play at "Linebacker U", capping their senior season with a 24-0

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

in the 1999

Alamo Bowl The Alamo Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from the Pac-12 Conference and ...

. Short led the team with 103 tackles and four sacks that season.

Freshman Season

Short played on five snaps as a true freshman in Penn State's first game with Texas Tech. The following week, he broke a bone in his foot and spent most of the rest of the season in rehabilitation, practicing but not playing in the final month of the season to earn a medical red shirt. The next season Short started every game at rush end/linebacker and led the Nittany Lions with 12 tackles for -50 yards, while his 3.5 sacks for -20 yards was among the team's best. His tackle total was 48 (20 solo) and he caused and recovered a fumble, blocked a field goal and broke up two passes. He was in for 812 plays. Everything began to click for Short as he got used to his new position and he totaled a season-high 10 tackles, and caused and recovered a fumble in the season finale with Michigan State. His play in the Fiesta Bowl included six stops, among them two tackles for loss (-11 yards) and a sack.

Sophomore Year

On the original list of Butkus Award candidates, Short made stops (42 solo), fourth on the team, despite missing the better part of three games with an ankle injury. He started eight regular season games and was in for 563 snaps. Short anchored a defense that while bending and giving up some yardage, managed to hold six teams to 17 points or less. He recorded 12 tackles for losses, tied for second on the team, with 2.5 sacks, an interception and three pass breakups. Short earned team Defensive MVP honors in the Citrus Bowl.

Junior Year

Short led the Lions resurgence and topped the squad in tackles en route to first-team All-Big Ten honors. He recorded 67 tackles (49 solo) with 15 tackles for -42 yards. and 5.5 sacks. A semi-finalist for the Butkus Award. Short tied his career high with 10 stops (8 solo) at Minnesota, including a career best 3 sacks to earn Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, and ABC Player of the Game honors. Short earned his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in marketing from Penn State in 1999.

Professional career

A fourth-round pick of the

(#105 overall) in the

2000 NFL Draft The 2000 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur U.S. college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 15– 16, 2000, at the Thea ...

played five seasons for the New York Giants and two for the Carolina Panthers. In his rookie year saw action in 11 regular season games and was inactive for five games because of an ankle injury. Appeared in all three of the Giants postseason contest, including

. Short was involved in an infamous 2002

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

cafeteria fistfight with teammate

Jeremy Shockey Jeremy Charles Shockey (born August 18, 1980) is a former American football tight end. He played college football at the University of Miami and was drafted by the New York Giants in the first round of the 2002 NFL Draft. The winner of the fir ...

. The two players brawled after Shockey, a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

, refused to sing his college

fight song A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...

—a training camp

hazing Hazing (American English), initiation, beasting (British English), bastardisation (Australian English), ragging (South Asian English) or deposition refers to any activity expected of someone in joining or participating in a group that humiliates, ...

ritua

Short was in the news again after he broke

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Chad Pennington James Chadwick Pennington (born June 26, 1976) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. He played college football at Marshall, where he won the Sammy Baugh Trophy, and was selecte ...

wrist In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as (1) the Carpal bones, carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand; "The wrist contains eight bones, roughly aligned in two rows, known ...

during a tackle in the 2003 Giants-Jets preseason game. Pennington would miss the first six games of the

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

br>
Short signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with the

in 2004, and appeared in all 32 games at strongside linebacker with Carolina in 2004 and 2005. He tallied 70 tackles and helped the Panther's defense collect 38 take-aways, which tied a team record. He returned to the

in April

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, signing as a

NFL career statistics

Post NFL Career

Short was an NFL analyst for Daily News Live, a current T.V. show with NY media panels who analyze NY sports on the SNY Network in NYC. He earned an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one ...

in 2010, and began working for

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

that year. He moved to the firm's

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

unit in 2012. Short left Goldman Sachs in April 2013 to co-found World Business Partners UAE, a Middle East lender specializing in loans for small- and medium-sized companies which comply with Islam's ban on

interest In finance and economics, interest is payment from a borrower or deposit-taking financial institution to a lender or depositor of an amount above repayment of the principal sum (that is, the amount borrowed), at a particular rate. It is distinct ...

, along with the religion's bans on investments in alcohol, firearms, and other products. In 2015, Short moved to London where he joined Cerberus Capital Management. In 2017, he moved to Round Hill Capital, a fully integrated real estate investment and management firm, where he is Director of Mergers and Acquisitions. In 2018 Short was elected to the Pennsylvania State University's Board of Trustees.

References

External links

"Short returns to Giants to join linebacking corps"
ESPN.com, April 19, 2006

New Jersey Department of Transportation press release, April 28, 2003 * https://news.psu.edu/story/570982/2019/04/24/athletics/take-aim-and-shoot-event-benefiting-penn-state-york-athletics * http://www.statecollege.com/news/local-news/former-linebacker-brandon-short-running-for-penn-state-board-of-trustees,1475158/ * https://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/05/former_footballer_brandon_shor.html * https://www.businessinsider.com/football-players-on-wall-street-2016-2/ * https://www.businessinsider.com.au/football-players-on-wall-street-2013-10#former-nfl-wide-receiver-wayne-chrebet-now-works-at-barclays-1 * https://www.pennlive.com/pennstatefootball/2016/09/ranking_the_top_100_players_in_1.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Short, Brandon 1977 births Living people All-American college football players American football linebackers Carolina Panthers players Columbia Business School alumni New York Giants players Penn State Nittany Lions football players Sportspeople from McKeesport, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania