Army West Point Athletics
Football
- Title:
- Inside Linebackers
Braswell enters his second season as the inside linebackers coach at West Point, originally being hired to staff in February of 2021.
In his first season in 2021, he aided in the development of the big season from senior LB Arik Smith, who posted 86 tackles (40 solo), 10.5 tackles for loss, four sacks and a fumble recovery. Smith’s performance led him to be selected as the 2021 recipient of the Defender of the Nation Award.
Braswell, a former high school head coach in Georgia and Tennessee, came to West Point after spending the 2020 season at Appalachian State as an assistant coach and the 2019 season as a quality control coach at Louisville.
As the outside linebackers assistant coach at Appalachian State in 2020, Braswell helped lead a defensive unit that ranked 18th nationally in total defense as the Mountaineers went 9-3 and won the Myrtle Beach Bowl with a 56-28 victory over North Texas.
The App State defense ranked in the top three in multiple Sun Belt defensive categories, including second in pass defense and second in total defense.
Braswell was also a key national recruiter for the Mountaineers. Following the season, Braswell was selected to the AFCA 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute - a prestigious program aimed at identifying and developing premier and future leaders in the coaching profession.
During his one season at Louisville in 2019, Braswell was a defensive quality control coach, working with the inside linebackers position group.
Braswell helped the Cardinals to one of the biggest turnarounds in college football that season as they went from 2-10 in 2018 to 8-5 in 2019 with a win over Mississippi State in the Music City Bowl.
As the head coach at Ridgeland High School in his hometown of Rossville, Ga., in 2018, Braswell led the Panthers to an 8-4 overall record, a Region 6-AAAA runner-up finish and a 34-14 state playoff victory over Flowery Branch before a second-round loss at Cartersville, the eventual state runner-up. Ridgeland also scored a big regular season road win at Sandy Creek.
Braswell was the head coach at Chattanooga Central High School in 2016 and 2017 and led the Purple Pounders to the TSSAA state playoffs twice.
He also served on the Tennessee Football Coaches Association Board of Directors, representing the interests of football coaches statewide and serving as a contributing voice with the TSSAA legislation.
He began his coaching career in 2009 as he coached defensive backs at Ringgold. He went on to be defensive coordinator at Soddy-Daisy, East Ridge, North Murray, Chattanooga Central and Bradley Central and was the 2014 District Assistant Coach of the Year during his first stint with the Purple Pounders.
As the offensive coordinator at Chattanooga Notre Dame in 2012, Braswell’s offense was one of the best in the state, where the Irish averaged more than 34 points a game.
A two-time all-state running back at Baylor School in Chattanooga and a Mr. Football finalist for the Red Raiders as a senior in 2004, Braswell graduated from his high school as its single-game and career rushing and scoring leader and later played college football at Liberty University.
Braswell holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Dalton State College in Dalton, Ga., and a master’s degree in teaching from Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn.
