David Andrews has been a leader all his life.
From the Wesleyan School, to the University of Georgia and now with the Patriots, the center has been a leader and a captain on all three teams.
So, what makes a good leader in his mind?
“Honestly, I hate that question because it’s so hard for me to put what leadership is,” Andrews said. “I don’t know. It can be so many different things. It’s so fluid. It can mean a lot of different things at different times. Some people respond to different things, so knowing your teammates and the different situations. It’s just a fluid thing at different times.”
But that’s the thing, Andrews being able to do all those different things at different times is what makes him such a tremendous leader and a player so many of his teammates look up to.
In addition, he's not the most naturally gifted player, but someone who has an extremely high work ethic which has helped him get where he is today — an undrafted player who has started 66 NFL games, won two Super Bowls and been a Patriots captain the last four seasons.
“He has an intangible, unteachable quality — call it leadership, whatever label you want to put on it — but it’s special,” Andrews’ high school coach Franklin Pridgen said. “It’s very, very real and he has absolutely made the very most of it.”
***
Andrews grew up in Johns Creek, Georgia, roughly 45 minutes north of Atlanta, as an only child.
He started playing football at a very young age — kindergarten or first grade — and instantly fell in love with the sport.
As he grew up, since he was bigger than his peers he had to play with kids two and three years older than he was, but that forced him to make friends with people not his age and prepared him for the rest of his football career.
Back at home, he saw both his parents and grandparents work extremely hard on a daily basis. His grandfathers worked from sunrise to sunset a lot of days and that work ethic was instilled in Andrews at a young age.
This all carried over to the Wesleyan School, a small private high school located 10-15 minutes from where he grew up.
Andrews did not make varsity as a freshman, but did as a sophomore and was the starting center on the GHSA Class A state championship team. Only a sophomore, he played a vital role for the team.
“I think our team looked at him when he was as young as a sophomore,” Pridgen said. “He started on a state championship team when he was in the 10th grade. I think even then his leadership ability was apparent and a lot of our older players defaulted to him for a leadership role.”
Over his final two years, that leadership role expanded and he was named a team captain his senior year.
Early in his senior year, Wesleyan took on Elbert County in a highly anticipated matchup between one of the best private school teams in the state and one of the best public school teams in the state.
Wesleyan trailed 23-21 with only a few minutes remaining in front of a packed and rocking stadium.
“I remember hearing David on the field after the play was called in the huddle looking at all the linemen and the backs yelling, ‘Ball security. Get a good step here.’ It was like he was coaching on the fly,” Pridgen recalled. “It was pretty inspirational. Our backs were up against the wall and it was time to perform, or else we were going to lose the game.”
Wesleyan was able to march down the field and kick the game-winning field goal to pull out a 24-23 victory.
“David was the catalyst to where we needed to be on that drive,” Pridgen said. “The coaches looked at each other and said, ‘David just went from being great to being special.’”
***
It wasn’t just on the field in games where Andrews was leading, it was off the field with his teammates and showing an ability to bring everyone together.
As an only child, he viewed his teammates almost as an extension of his family.
Andrews continued the school tradition of having offensive linemen dinners every Thursday and developed bonds and friendships with teammates that still hold true to this day.
“I’ve always enjoyed the relationships and the bonding within the game,” Andrews said. “There were some great memories from doing that. Being an only child, you’re forced to go out there and make friends because you don’t really have any friends at home. I was always having friends over and things like that.”
Andrews had an ability to connect with everyone. Regardless of if they were in the same grade or not, he was able to form a bond with virtually everyone he came across.
This carried over to the field and was part of his leadership.
Andrews was able to push the team when it needed it most like during hot summer days with conditioning work. Someone was needed to push the team not only through the first rep, but the 15th as well and that was Andrews.
“It was always David helping us to get a little bit more out of everybody,” said Pridgen. “He brought everybody to their best and just one step more. I think that was one of the reasons why we were so successful when he was here. That to me is real leadership — can you get the most out of yourself, but can you get the most out of everybody around you and then take them a little bit further than they think they can go.”
Andrews added: “At a young age it was stressed to me that the little things matter. I was never a person that was good enough just to show up. There’s a lot of people who are and can do things differently. I just have never been one of those people. It’s always something I have taken pride in. It’s just my way of life — if you’re going to do something, you might as well give it your all.”
***
Andrews graduated Wesleyan as the No. 9 high school senior center in the country, according to Rivals.com and despite offers from Duke and Michigan, hw signed on with Georgia as a lifelong Bulldogs fan.
Like almost every football player, going from high school to college was a big change, especially joining the SEC as an undersized center.
He did not start as a freshman and played behind Ben Jones, who was a senior and a three-year starter at the time. Jones was drafted by the Texans in the fourth round of the 2012 draft and he was the ideal player for Andrews to learn from — not only because of his skill, but having similar styles. Both are not the biggest, physically gifted players, but work for everything they get.
“That was guy I looked to learn a lot from,” Andrews said. “I knew my role. I was kind of the sixth man, but Ben really took me under his wing and I just tried to soak up as much as I could — how he carried himself, the things he did, how he treated people, whatever it may be. I just tried to soak up as much as I could from him.
“This was a guy who was an All-SEC [player], not that much bigger than me, captain. It was someone I really looked up to. I knew I wasn’t going to start over him. He was a heck of a player. I knew I had to be ready. You have to understand your role and that was my role that year.”
Andrews did appear in 10 games as a freshman and was able to letter, which set the stage for what turned out to be a very solid career as a Bulldog. He took over for Jones and started at center for his remaining three years.
Not only did he excel on the field at his position, but he turned into a team leader and was named a permanent captain for his senior season.
“Guys know. Coaches know if a guy is special and deserves that,” Mark Richt, the Georgia coach at the time, said. “There are a lot of great players that don’t want to be a captain and don’t want to lead, but there are other guys who have it written all over them and that is the kind of guy David is.”
***
While Andrews was Georgia's MVP, second-team All-SEC and named as one of six finalists for the Rimington Trophy his senior season, he was still undersized and therefore didn’t get much attention when it came to the NFL.
He wasn’t even invited to the combine.
“Look at him — he doesn’t look ominous when it comes to who he’s blocking or to the guys that are lining up next to him,” Richt said.
But, he did have intangibles that not many other players had, including as his work ethic, smarts and ability to lead. This caught Bill Belichick’s attention when he personally worked Andrews out at Georgia’s pro day.
“He saw all the things he liked in a player in David and wanted to have him on his team,” Richt said. “That is why they go to those things. I really believe that.”
Ultimately, Belichick and the Patriots signed Andrews as an undrafted rookie following the 2015 draft. The center credits his intangibles for allowing that to happen and getting him to where he is today.
“I think [that helped],” he said. “The [NFL] didn’t give me a chance because I wasn’t 6-foot-6 and 320 pounds, bench press 35 times and have 40-inch arms. I know what I am and why I am here. That is what you have to be. You have to play to that and I have always kind of had to be that person.”
***
Upon joining the Patriots, Andrews was in a similar position to when starting at Georgia.
Bryan Stork was the Patriots’ starting center, but Andrews did enough over the summer to crack the initial 53-man roster and because of an injury to Stork, started Week 1. He ended up started every game through Week 10, playing every snap over the first half of the season.
The following year, Andrews beat Stork out for the starting job and the veteran was eventually released. Not only did he overtake Stork, he did enough to earn the trust of Belichick and the organization as in May of 2017 he signed a three-year extension with the team. Then prior to the 2017 season, he was named a team captain.
It was a bit unusual for an undrated rookie in his third season to be a team captain with the Patriots, but Andrews’ work ethic along with his ability to connect with all of his teammates made him deserving of the job.
“We’ve had some young captains on the team in the past,” Belichick said at the time. “Like Devin [McCourty] and Jerod [Mayo], so I think it’s good for those guys to be in there in the meetings and in that position with some of our other very, very good and experienced veteran leaders. You know, there’s an element of transition and learning from experienced players there that, I think, is beneficial to everybody, not just the young players, but beneficial to the more experienced captains and myself.”
Andrews has held that role ever since the 2017, even when he missed all of 2019 due to blood clots in his lungs. Despite not being able to play, he still attended virtually every practice and game, doing anything he possibly could to help the team.
Now in his fourth year as team captain, he continues to be a leader and a player everyone looks to and connects with for the same reasons back in high school at Wesleyan and in college at Georgia.
“David is just an incredibly authentic and genuine person,” Pridgen said. “Obviously, he’s a grown man and an adult now, but in a lot of ways he is very much the same today as he was in high school with his work ethic, his dedication to being the best he can be on and off the field, and just the authentic way that he connects to people.
“I have always admired his authenticity and what a genuine person he is.”
***
While Andrews doesn’t like the question of what leadership means, all he has to do is look at everything he’s done over the course of his career for the answer.
His ability to connect with all his teammates regardless of age, where they are from, etc. is unmatched. And then his journey is inspiring as he truly has had to work for everything he’s got.
“If you’re going to do something, you might as well do it the best you can, right?” Andrews said. “I take too much pride in this game. I love playing this game. I love everything about the game. It’s one of those things where if you’re good to the game, a lot of times the game will be good back to you. And if you’re not, she can be a cold, cold, cold thing.”
And for someone who has won so many big games, including two Super Bowls, Andrews acknowledges being named a team captain is one of his greatest accomplishments.
“I think so because it’s not something — no offense to the media — but it’s not something they vote for, or the fans voted for, your family, whatever — it’s the guys in the locker room,” he said. “It’s them trusting you, or whatever you want to say. I think that is something for me that has always meant a lot. I love being in the locker room. I think the locker room is maybe the best place in the world. It’s something I love - the guys there. I have been fortunate to be on some really cool teams with a lot of great guys.
“It is a huge honor and something I don’t take lightly.”
