Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Offensive guard Jaymes Brooks, 68 left, breaks huddle with fellow O-line players Blake DeChristopher, 62, and Beau Warren, 60, during game action against Marshall University Sept. 12.

BLACKSBURG -- At 6-foot-2, 300 pounds, Virginia Tech guard Jaymes Brooks can't help but turn heads when he walks into a room.

It doesn't take the big fellow long to light up the room, either.

"Brooks is kinda like the Jolly Green Giant," said defensive end Chris Drager, breaking into laughter. "He's a big kid, but a nice kid. He can talk to you. He's funny."

Always smiling. Always laughing. Always joking. When it comes to sheer bubbling personality, Brooks may rank as the leader in the Tech football clubhouse.

"Brooks is definitely always happy," rover Matt Reidy said. "He never has a negative thing to say. He's always a good time to hang out with. You've got to love guys like that."

So much for the stereotype of the grunting, groaning and menacing offensive lineman.

"Some days are bad, but you've just got to keep a smile on everything," Brooks said. "I'm in college, playing football, what more?"

While he constantly busts guts into laughter in social settings, Brooks' game is not nearly as amusing to opposing defensive linemen. On the field, Brooks is not such a funny honey.

"I know I seem laidback, but on the field you've got to have an attitude," Brooks said. "Ain't no time to joke around on that field. It's about business. You're out there to do a job. Go out there soft and you're going to get blown up on national television, giving up sacks and stuff, and we can't be having that."

Talk about a guy who has been forced to learn quickly on the fly. Brooks proved his mettle in Tech's Jan. 1 Orange Bowl victory over Cincinnati. Drawing an emergency start when senior guard Nick Marshman was ineligible to play, Brooks was thrown into the fire and didn't get burned. He played superbly for a kid who had taken all of four snaps up to that point in his college career.

"No one could have asked for any more than what Jaymes did that night," offensive line coach Curt Newsome said. "You're talking about a kid who basically had never played a game. But Jaymes is all about his business, and he proved it in that game. Not many kids could have handled that like he did."

Asked to recall what it was like to make his first start in a BCS Bowl game on national television, Brooks, as usual, smiled and then laughed.

"The Orange Bowl, man ... first start ... it's crazy." he responded. "I had found out a couple weeks before the game. Somebody told me Marshman wasn't playing and I was like, 'yeah, whatever.' Then, Coach Newsome came to me and told me the news.

"The whole season, I had thought I could get in there, but Coach Newsome said he didn't think I was ready yet. I mean I had played four plays all season, it was crazy. It was nerve-wracking, but I knew I would be ready. After a couple series, I got relaxed and I got into a good, little rhythm. And know what, it worked out pretty good."

No kidding.

This season, Brooks has proven he wasn't some kind of one-game wonder. He has started every game, and with two more years left in his career, Brooks figures to leave Tech as a three-year starter who will have a serious shot to play at the next level. Besides his size, Brooks' biggest asset is his quick feet, which pedaled him to a 4.9-second 40-yard dash time in a 2005 combine at Christopher Newport University.

"I've always been big and fast ever since I was little," Brooks said. "I used to play fullback and tight end. I was more like chiseled then, though. I know Sergio Render [left guard] said he was big and sexy, but I could give him a run for his money. I think I've got him beat."

That head-turning 40 time suddenly raised Brooks' recruiting stock to blue-chip status. Twenty-four hours later, then-Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer and Florida assistant Billy Gonzales both showed up at Denbigh High to offer him a scholarship.

"Yeah, when the big guy [Fulmer] came in ... that's when I went, 'oh!' Then the big time put something on the table for real," recalled Brooks.

Brooks eventually turned down the two SEC heavyweights, plus South Carolina, Maryland, North Carolina and North Carolina State, before settling on Tech. It was all about location for Brooks.

"I didn't want my mother [Marva] and my grandparents traveling 13-14 hours down to Florida or driving eight hours [to Knoxville, Tenn.] every weekend," he said. "Four hours from home to Tech. That was a good distance, it gave me space from home, plus my family can still come see me whenever they want."

What they see is a young man who is the same kid he always was.

"His mother is very personable, all my daughters are like that, too," said Brooks' grandfather, James, a 65-year-old retired Air Force man who has filled the role of father in his grandson's life. "All of them can meet anybody and start talking to them, you know.

"Jaymes, I'm so proud of him. He's a good kid, always has been all his life."

And why the 'Y' in his first name?

"My Momma came up with that," Brooks said, laughing. "Never seen it anywhere else. It's butchered all the time ... people say, 'Jay-mez, Jay-me, all that.' It stands out a little bit, too. James with a 'Y' in the middle of it."

Totally fitting, really. A unique name for a unique guy.