Brandon King paid his dues at a junior college in Kansas before earning a scholarship to Auburn, then landing with he Patriots. ▲

FOXBORO — Football was an outlet and truthfully, it wasn't much of a choice.

If Brandon King was to going to live in his family's Alabaster, Alabama, home, his mother, Angela, told him he needed to play a sport. Football was always the choice. He started playing when he was 5 years old. As he grew, it was like therapy in a sense. If he was angry, he could run as fast as he wanted and hit whoever stood in front of him.

"It helped me with anger problems," King said. "Just to be out and get some stress out. Be in the fresh air."

Friday night lights are huge in that part of the country. Kids dream of playing in the NFL, but for most, it's a pipe dream that fades away when reality kicks in. King always believed in himself, but his opportunity to play almost died early. A standout at Thompson High School, he finishing with 116 tackles as a safety, but his academics weren't up to par following a slow start in school.

"My first year in high school I just really wasn't focused on grades and I ended up not having my priorities in order," King said. "My second year, I did a little bit better with grades, but it wasn't where they should've been. My third year, I tried to jump on top of it. I made solid A's and B's. Fourth year was the same thing. I ended up having a strong enough GPA with all my classes together, but ended up not meeting NCAA requirements by .03."

King originally thought he'd end up at an FCS a Football Championship Subdivision school, but his GPA wouldn't allow it. The high school student was nearly out of options. In fact, he had just one — 850 miles away in Highland, Kansas.

King was willing to do whatever it took to keep his football dream alive. It's the reason why he's in his fourth season with the Patriots.

'Middle of nowhere'

The town of Highland has a population of 1,000. You need roughly a half mile to walk from one end of the town to the other. It was a long way from home for King, but Highland Community College was literally his only chance to play college football.

He never visited the school before stepping on campus as a freshman.

"There was one coach that kept calling me," King said. "At the end of the day, that's the only [choice I had]. I didn't even look up the school. I didn't research it. I just popped up there. It was in the middle of nowhere. There weren't even any traffic lights. Two gas stations in the whole town. It was different. It was a culture shock, but I felt like I put myself in that position by not making the grades. It was my job to work myself out of it."

In junior college, you either sink or swim. For many, these two years are one last shot to get to the scholarship level. Mike Beagle, King's first head coach at Highland in 2011, knows that all too well. He's seen plenty of kids make it to the next level, but he's seen even more fail to live up to their talents.

Those who make it, typically share common traits.

"Most of them have the same kind of makeup with the work ethic part. They're driven, focused, no matter what it takes to get there," Beagle said. "Never lost sight of what they have to do or how they're going to get here. Brandon did a great job for us."

King kept his head down and pushed forward for two years. He started at linebacker and then turned into one of the best safeties in the Jayhawk Conference. He parlayed those two years into a scholarship to Auburn.

"He was a pretty quiet guy, really," Beagle said. "Reserved, but physical on the field and great work ethic. All those things you want in a player."

Do what it takes

King stepped out of his comfort zone in order to achieve his dream of playing Division I football. In order to get on the field at Auburn, he had to do the same.

He finished his first season with seven tackles playing in 14 games in a reserve safety roll. As a senior, he was called upon to fill an unlikely position — defensive end. For then-defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson, the move was made to help an ailing depth chart. After Dee Ford went to the NFL, Auburn lost future NFL edge rusher Carl Lawson to injury during that 2014 season.

"We just had the worst luck with guys that could come off the edge," Johnson said. "What he ended up doing was going to defensive end, but he was used mostly in pass situations."

"I just was trying to help the team out and not have any negative light on me," King said. "If your coach tells you to do something I was just trying to make it happen and do it to the best of my abilities. I wasn't going to complain about it. I just wanted to be positive and put my best football forward."

King's position change happened in the second half of the season. For someone who stood 6-foot-2 and weighed 213 pounds, he didn't look like your typical defensive lineman. But as he did in Highland, King pressed forward. He finished that season with 12 tackles and two quarterback hits while coming off the bench in 13 games.

King never made a start at Auburn in two seasons. He didn't enter as a nationally ranked recruit, nor exit with a laundry list of accolades. What he did was do whatever his coaches needed and that said everything about his character.

"He was a hard-nosed energetic guy. He was a practice guy. He was a film-room guy," Johnson said. "Always had an upbeat attitude. Would he be a guy that I would've told you then was going to play in the NFL? I really don't know. But he finds a role and he doesn't care what it is. ... Brandon was just a football player."

Finding his role

King looked like a long shot during his first NFL training camp in 2015. During that preseason, he finished with one tackle in three games. Little did many know, he'd soon be a staple on the active roster.

King was cut as a rookie and spent his first month and a half on the Patriots practice squad. On Oct. 10, 2015, he was called up to the 53-man roster. Four years later, he's still there.

"I feel like I still just got here. I feel like at anytime, it could be over," King said. "My first day in the league, I kind of felt like I made it to the NFL, but what I felt that day was the closest day to me being out, if that makes sense. It's all about perspective."

King still hasn't played a defensive snap in his NFL career, but the four-year veteran has developed into a core special teams player for the Patriots. This season, King leads the Patriots with seven solo and 11 total special-teams tackles. He's also tied for second in the NFL in special-teams tackles.

"As a little kid, you tell yourself, 'I'd do anything to play in the NFL,' well, he's a guy that's been willing to literally do anything to play in the NFL," said Matthew Slater. "I think his college career was indicative of that. He just wanted to get on the field and have a chance to play football. He came in here with the absolutely perfect mindset. He knew why he was here. It was to help us in the kicking game. He embraced it wholeheartedly. It's really paid off for him."

King enjoys the special-teams work. Of course, if he was asked to play on defense, he'd jump at the chance. He's never been the kind of guy to turn down an opportunity.

"Whatever my role is I'll play it and do it to the best of my ability," King said. "I feel like anybody on the team would want that. If I have the opportunity, I'm going to try to run with it regardless if it's special teams, defense, whatever they give me a chance to do, I'm going to do so I can keep my job."

It's worked out for him so far.