Sparks brothers ready for matchup this weekend
The brother-vs.-brother Sparks matchup this weekend in front of thousands at Ross-Ade Stadium began in a backyard shack in a small, unincorporated Louisiana town.
Behind the Sparks family house in Geismar, La., was a rustic and basic workout room. No air conditioning. Very little room to move around. All that was inside were the bare essentials of body training, the daily willpower of Jared and Adam Sparks and the constant oversight of their father, Kenyatta, and two other coaches, Sean Wallace and Lindsey Scott, to make sure they didn't miss a single workout.
"It was dictated by what it was outside, so if it was cold that day, it was cold and if it was hot then it was hot," Jared Sparks said. "We just grew up savages."
Wallace and Scott were teammates of Kenyatta Sparks at Southern University in 1995 when the Jaguars were at the top of the Southwestern Athletic Conference with the “Racehorse Offense,” which led the NCAA in total offense and averaged 40 points per game. The trio of men passed on their work ethic to their sons as Lindsey Scott Jr. is a third-year sophomore quarterback at Missouri after transferring in from East Mississippi Community College, where he ranked among the nation's elite in junior college football in passing (290.1 yards per game), passing touchdowns (29) and completion percentage (64.8 percent).
"We would all grind every day and on the weekend when people were partying," Jared Sparks said. "We didn't have a regular high school life. It was a collective thing where it was like we were a big family. We just had good role models to live up to. All of our fathers were there for us and knew what it took. They taught us how to work."
Saturday night's matchup between the two brothers will be witnessed literally by a busload of family members, as Adam Sparks said Tuesday approximately 50 family members will be making the 12- to 13-hour coach bus trip to see the game in West Lafayette. It'll be one of the few game situations where the brothers will line up across from each other.
And don't think Jared Sparks hasn't been in his quarterback's ear to get more touches this weekend.
"He's been talking about it all the time and he broke it down for us that you know my little brother is on the team and I'm not about to let him dictate how I run my routes," Purdue quarterback Elijah Sindelar said. "We want to rally around that and be there for him because that's bragging rights."
When Jared Sparks became a full-time receiver at Purdue during the week leading up to the Foster Farms Bowl, his younger brother was one of the first people who got the news. The two brothers then immediately came to the realization this individual matchup in the 2018 end of the Purdue-Missouri home-and-home agreement was bound to happen.
"I've never had to actually run routes against him before," Jared Sparks said Tuesday. "I'm going to shock him. I'm telling you, I'm going to shock him."
It's this exact kind of smack talk that began between the two brothers through text messages, FaceTime chats and phone calls starting Sunday night. The boasting between the siblings should come as no surprise as Sparks has already established himself as having a prototypical wide receiver mentality as one of the most extroverted members of the Purdue roster on a daily basis.
"It’s playful smack talk," Adam Sparks said. "Nothing personal. It’s always competitive, though. That’s the type of people we are."
Whether it was practices at Dutchtown High School or backyard football games in their hometown, Jared was always the quarterback, and Adam played either wide receiver or cornerback. Jared Sparks said Tuesday evening that he knew his younger brother was going to verbally pledge to Missouri long before he announced his commitment on Christmas evening in 2016.
And so both brothers indeed were aware this matchup would happen the minute that Adam decided to commit to the Southeastern Conference school with an upcoming home-and-series with Purdue.
"I tried to give him a heads-up before that they have Purdue on the schedule now," Jared Sparks said. "They knew that before. It's not a surprise."
Jared Sparks is quick to point out that because of Purdue's 0-2 start to this season, he can't afford to give his brother any slack in this upcoming game. The older brother was quick to point out this week who frequently comes out on top in a sibling rivalry.
"As you guys know, big brother normally wins," Jared Sparks said. "You never want to lose to your little brother in anything, and we're both extremely competitive people and always have been."
From a small, worn-down shack deep in the Louisiana bayou, two brothers will get a chance to showcase their skills one-on-one Saturday night in a huge college football matchup for both programs.
"I told him immediately after (he committed to Missouri) that with where we came from and how much work he put in, how important it was for him to get to this stage and have the opportunity to play Division I in the SEC, I was just ecstatic for him," Jared Sparks said. "How could you not be proud?"
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