There was always something slightly off balance about John Brooks. He’d filter into USMNT camps from the relative dark of the Bundesliga, and he was the visage of a prototypical cornerstone center back without having the gravitas behind it.

Brooks was always fine. But rarely more than that.

Something changed in Brooks this season at Hertha Berlin. The Bundesliga capital club flirted with a Champions League spot through the winter break before joyously settling for the Europa League at season’s end. Only three teams – Bayern, BVB and Leverkusen – let in fewer goals, a defensive hallmark that teased out every poorly conceived Berlin Wall analogy in the book.

And, as always, he was an imperial guardsman in the air. Ghana, of course, already knew this all too well.

But it was clear Brooks was different somehow; more mature, less prone to leaving his defensive ramparts, and disciplined in more ways than that. If he wasn’t a “breakout” star in so many words, he was certainly one of the Bundesliga’s best defenders in 2015-16. He contributed to 10 clean sheets as a starter in the notoriously attack-rich Bundesliga. He shut down Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in March, quieted Chicharito in December, neutered Lewis Holtby in October.

At 23 and with just a year and a half left on his Hertha Berlin deal, the transfer inquiries filtered in from Schalke and Wolfsburg and points distant before Brooks extended his contract with his hometown club through 2019 in January. Hertha may still sell him, but at least for now familiarity, comfort and the immediate promise of European competition won him over.

That’s all prelude to Brooks’ summer, which has already vaulted him into pole position as the best American defender on the planet at the moment. Brooks has been a mobile block of granite so far for the Americans, putting in shift after shift of defensive immensity stationed next to Geoff Cameron, who he has somehow made look pedestrian by comparison. We saw it in the friendlies in the build-up, and despite the loss we saw it against Colombia, and we certainly saw it against Costa Rica.

Brooks is not only the best American defender right now. He’s the best American player. Period.

In truth, the U.S. has been desperately seeking a cornerstone defender since Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundolo shuffled off the game’s mortal coil. The 2014 cycle was a brutal lesson in this, as Matt Besler and Omar Gonzalez and Cameron struggled to pull on that mantle and the back line was a sort of makeshift mutt for years. Since then we’ve been hunkering in our castles awaiting the fulfillment of the prophecy that Aragor– ahem, that some defender would pick up the sword Boca dropped.

Brooks still has distance to cover, but we’ve never seen him put together a string of performances like this on the national team level. His MO has always been inconsistency, not just from game to game but from minute to minute. He was a wild card. I dare say he is not anymore. And even if he still has some of that in him, it has been tempered like steel and molded into a more defined shape.

Brooks has been so calm and so tactically sound that he makes relatively prescient decisions look benign and obvious. And they are, to us in hindsight, but in the moment I hope Brooks’ subtle brilliance so far in this tournament has not been lost. Here’s a simple thing that I hope illustrates my point.

Giveaways deep in your own half are notoriously troublesome for center backs, who have more work to do in those situations than anyone on the field. They have to adjust to the possession flip and account for attackers suddenly turning from silently cruising submarines to attacking gunships.

Take this moment halfway through the first half. DeAndre Yedlin trapped himself in the corner and Alejandro Bedoya was stripped of possession after the ensuing pass. These were the battle stations just before the implosion.

That’s Alvaro Saborio ghosting between Cameron and Brooks, who’s done his best work as Cameron’s extended left shoulder. There is no threat yet because the U.S. still has possession, but that’s about to change. And Brooks is going to slyly recognize what’s happening and slip into position.

Cameron immediately has a problem. He has Joel Campbell cutting into an open pocket of space directly toward him and Bryan Ruiz slipping inside Yedlin, who lost his inside marking advantage against a dangerous player in tight spaces. Meanwhile, Saborio is lurking in the shadows.

Cameron sits because he has no other option. He can’t account for Saborio, a notoriously tricky poacher at this stage in his career, because he has to front Campbell and provide help for a half-beaten Yedlin.

This puts the entire weight of Saborio on Brooks’ shoulders. And at least at first it looks like Saborio is about to cut inside Brooks between he and Cameron for a look on goal. But that’s not what happens. Saborio, ever the clever fox, feints inside where Brooks appears to be cheating and actually steps back out to the 18. He’s counting on Brooks biting on his subtle feint to buy himself enough space to snap off a quick and dangerous effort.

Brooks does not bite. In fact, not only does Brooks not bite, but he rotates back to where Saborio wanted to be before he’d even gotten there. The result was an easy clean sweep-up effort and a restarted American attack.

This looked like nothing at the time because in reality it was nothing. Most fans probably didn’t bat an eyelash, stoically watching another dangerous passage of Costa Rican possession in the final third come to nothing.

But from Brooks’ perspective, it was a small marvel of positioning that piled on top of everything else to lay the brickwork for a subtle Man of the Match performance. These are the quiet highlights that make defenders, and they are not brash and complete with the resounding trumpets of a pinpoint through ball or a smashed golazo.

But make no mistake, Brooks was not doing this on the national team level a year ago. He was slow to rotate, quick to leave his position and far too willing to vacate valuable real estate in front of goal. That is no longer his way. If Brooks continues on this trajectory, the U.S. has found its next defensive cornerstone at long last.