In his blue Air Force hoodie, Bruin Fleischmann stood in front of the table and acknowledged the root of his success.

First he looked to his right.

“I’d like to thank both my parents,” Fleischmann said, looking at his dad, Ryan, and mom, Meg. “They gave me two things. They gave me opportunity and environment. With that, the rest was kind of up to me.”

Then he looked to his left, at his brother Titan, a freshman offensive lineman at Montana State back home with his right arm in sling.

“Most importantly, I’d like to thank Big T,” Fleischmann said. “Without this guy, I’m just a bum in my parent’s basement. Thanks buddy.”

On Wednesday, Fleischmann fulfilled a destiny most have assumed from him since birth. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound tight end signed with a DI program, inking his letter of intent to play at Air Force.

People have long expected big things from Bruin. Heck, his name is Bruin. Kids named Titan and Bruin kind of have to be big athletes.

“They’re powerful names,” Bruin said last year.

Indeed, and with powerful names comes heightened expectations. Ryan was a former Idaho State football player. Meg played basketball for the Bengals. Both have a rich athletic lineage in their family. And the family’s oldest, Titan, had already earned a Division I scholarship.

“We planned they would get scholarships, be nice respectful kids and also competitors,” Meg said last October.

As Bruin signed his letter of intent, everything came to fruition.

“It’s very satisfying, especially seeing Titan, my older brother, go through all of it,” Bruin said. “It was something that I wanted to obtain myself. Once I got it, I was super excited I could join the ranks with him.”

Some people were a bit surprised when Bruin committed to the Colorado Springs-based military academy in April. He was coming off an all-state-caliber junior season that included 46 catches, 843 yards and 15 touchdowns. His potential, it seemed, could only go up. Some asked: Why not wait?

But that would have gone against everything Bruin was taught. He grew up learning the value of education, to appreciate any coach or school that took the time to recruit him and to not let a great situation pass just to chase some bigger name.

And, so, Bruin committed before his senior year – and he’s glad he did.

“I knew where I was going to go my entire senior year and I could just work on the application and stuff like that instead of being panicked about where I was going to go,” he said, later describing the appeal of going to Air Force.

“I really like the security you have when you’re actually in the school and the opportunity on the back end of it. You’re automatically employed. You’re getting paid no matter what. You don’t have to worry about getting a job. The security of it all was a huge thing for me.”

That brings up the other question Bruin has been getting bombarded with lately: Um, why would you go to a school that doesn’t throw the ball? The Falcons run a triple-option offense that isn’t exactly built for pass catchers: They’ve thrown the ball just over 100 times this season.

“Nope,” Bruin answers, “they block a lot. I like to think I block better than I catch.”

To him, football is secondary. A full ride scholarship from Air Force can set a person up for life, and Bruin said he’s intrigued with the possibility of pursuing an engineering-based career in the U.S. Space Force.

Because of football, because of all those 5 a.m. workouts, those hundreds of gallons of milk he chugged, those daily naps he took, those lesson from his parents and those battles with his brother, Bruin Fleischmann is set up for life after football.