Bob Jones graduates cheer at Alabama

Bob Jones High School graduates Brooklynn Bradley and Bakita Stephens get ready for their first year of cheering at the University of Alabama.

BY ANNA DURRETT / REPORTER

Brooklynn Bradley, a 2010 Bob Jones High School graduate, will be cheering on the University of Alabama Co-Ed Cheerleading Squad for the 2012-2013 season.

Bakita Stephens, a 2012 Bob Jones graduate, made the Alabama All-Girl Cheerleading Squad.

“I’m excited to see how it all goes and what it’s like to cheer on the sidelines of an Alabama game,” said Bradley. “I wanted to cheer at Alabama because my uncle played at Alabama in college.”

Bradley started her college career at Wallace State Community College, where she cheered for two years. Compared to Wallace, Bradley said Alabama has “a lot more experienced people.”

“I got the college experience at Wallace, but I wouldn’t have been able to make it [to Alabama] without Bob Jones and the coaches there,” said Bradley.

Alabama Coed Team Coach Brain Groeschell said, “Our coaches have known her since she was in junior high, and we have seen her develop at Bob Jones High School and at Wallace State Community College. Brooklynn is a wonderful student and a tremendous athlete. She loves Alabama and we have great confidence that she will represent our program positively both on and off the field.”

Groeschell said the coed team consists of 11 females and 11 males who were selected from a clinic of about 100 people, which skewed heavily female. The all-girl team has 28 members who were chosen from a clinic of about 120 females.

“The Madison area has been a great source of talent for our program over the years, and Bakita and Brooklynn are representative of the strong cheerleading tradition there,” Groeschell said.

“Our spirit coordinator for the cheerleading and mascot program at Alabama is Jennifer Thrasher [maiden name Vaughn],” said Groeschell. “Jennifer is a graduate of Sparkman High School’s famed cheer program and was a cheerleader here at Alabama. The all-girl team coach is Brandon Prince, and he also cheered at Alabama and has helped coach Bob Jones for the last 5 to 6 years.”

Tara Murphy was Bradley’s coach at Bob Jones. “I won four national championships with her at Bob Jones,” said Bradley. “She really pushed us past what we though we could take.”

Bradley said Murphy kept her on a positive track “She’s kept up with me ever since I left Bob Jones,” said Bradley.

Bradley is majoring in criminal justice and minoring in psychology. “I want to go along the lines of behavior analysis, but we’ll just have to see,” said Bradley.