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Next Level

By: Jenn Brown, Francey Hakes, Spencer Gordon
Narrated by: Jenn Brown
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Episodes
  • Next Level Trailer
    Sep 7 2023

    On night one of the NFL Draft, Alabama star Brian Branch sat backstage anxiously waiting for his name to be called.

    This was the defining moment of his lifetime; the culmination of years of hard work, struggle, and determination. The small-town kid turned Alabama football star was expected to be picked in the first round, that's why he had received one of the coveted invitations to attend the draft in person. Various experts had predicted that he would be drafted as high as pick 11. Would they be right? Or, as he so often felt, would Brian Branch have something to prove?

    NEXT LEVEL follows Branch on his journey from high school player, to college star, to NFL hopeful. We learn Brian’s story, and the details of his early life that both challenged and motivated him: an absent father who struggled with mental illness, a single mother who fought to make ends meet and who, when Branch was 11, was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer. Along the way, we hear from the people who believed in Branch: his supportive mother, legendary coach Nick Saban, locker room friends, and more.

    And, of course, we will ride along for Pro Day, the Combine, and Draft Day itself - all while Branch provides a firsthand account of one of the most demanding, intense, unpredictable experiences in professional sports.

    Join Brian Branch as he tries to make it to the NEXT LEVEL.

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    2 mins
  • Episode 1: Small Town, Big Dreams
    Sep 7 2023
    Brian took to football like a duck to water, and played like he had something to prove.
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    20 mins
  • Episode 2: Friday Night Lights
    Sep 7 2023
    Brian creates a reputation on the high school football field and hopes to get drafted to play with Nick Saban in Alabama.
    Show more Show less
    21 mins
About the Creator- Spencer Gordon

About the Creator

Spencer Gordon is the president of XG Productions and executive producer. Spencer has served as an executive producer on XG’s slate of Audible Originals and brings a unique perspective to Next Level as co-creator and executive producer of Next Level: Behind Baker, a docuseries on former NFL #1 Draft Pick, Baker Mayfield. Spencer is a former Division I NCAA athlete turned lawyer. He’s a graduate of the USC Marshall School of Business, where he played for the Pac-10 Championship Baseball Team and earned Pac-10 Conference All-Academic First-Team honors. He then earned a JD / MBA from Pepperdine University. Spencer has executive produced other sports series, including All the Way Up with Baker Mayfield for Fox, Gone Gurley with Todd Gurley, and Eto’o, the Samuel Eto’o story with Canal+. Most recently, he was an executive producer of Indivisible: Healing Hate for Paramount+, and other sports series She Got Game and Out of Bounds for Audible Originals.

About the Creator- Francey Hakes

About the Creator

Francey Hakes was a prosecutor for 16 years, serving first as an Assistant District Attorney and then as an Assistant U.S. Attorney with a variety of assignments, including national security and child exploitation matters. Francey also served as special detail to the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, presenting FISA warrants to the FISA Court in counter-terrorism and counter-espionage cases and assisted in the prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui. She was also the country’s first National Coordinator for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction, a post appointed by the U.S. Attorney General. She was responsible for creating the inaugural U.S. strategy addressing child sexual exploitation titled The National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction, which was submitted to Congress in August 2010. Hakes oversaw all child exploitation efforts at the Department of Justice, testified before the U.S. Congress and the United States Sentencing Commission, and briefed senior officials at the White House, Congress, and the Department of Justice on child exploitation issues. She is CEO of her own consulting firm, providing advice, counsel and expert witness services to firms, law enforcement, schools, governments, industry, nonprofits, Hollywood firms, and others on national security and the protection of children. She is executive producer and writer for Audible’s Midwest Monster podcast. She has appeared on Fox News, CNN, NBC Nightly News, and Law & Crime network as a legal analyst, and is an opinion contributor for The Hill and the Washington Examiner. Francey also works with a variety of peers from elite agencies as a producer at XG Productions. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia, a juris doctor from Ohio Northern University College of Law, and an honorary doctorate from Ohio Northern University.

About the Performer - Jenn Brown

About the Creator and Host

Jenn Brown is a two-time Emmy Award-winning broadcaster with knowledge and expertise in the TV industry that spans almost two decades.
Brown is best known as the first female correspondent on the hit series Inside the NFL on Showtime. She has also served as a host & reporter for ESPN on a variety of programming, as host on American Ninja Warrior for NBC, and as a live studio host for NFL Network. Most recently, she served as a host and reporter for Bellator MMA on Showtime.
Growing up with parents that were Olympic gymnastics coaches, Jenn had a love of sports from a young age. She competed in seven sports in high school and went on to play softball for the University of Florida, where she was honored as a three-time NFCA Academic All-American. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in criminology. Jenn lives in Atlanta with her husband, actor Wes Chatham, and her two sons, Nash and Rhett.

What listeners say about Next Level

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Brian Branch's orgin story

I loved hearing the story behind the athlete. We are given a chance to understand Brian off the field as much as we do on the field.

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Excellent

I enjoyed this podcast series. The reporter allowed everyone to be tell their story in their words. Good luck in the NFL Brian.

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1 person found this helpful