Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/797655
Brown keeps football career on fast track W hen you're Pennsylvania's fastest sprinter and hold the state record for most rushing yards in a high school foot- ball game, you become used to doing things with speed. That's how it is for Journey Brown, who has one of the best 40-yard dash times among all of Penn State's signees in 2017. But when it came to his recruitment, that was anything but quick. Brown, who is from Meadville, broke onto the scene in September 2015 when he rushed for 722 yards and 10 touch- downs against DuBois. "It was a crazy game," he recalled. It was also Pennsyl- vania's single greatest high school rush- ing total, and it caught the nation's attention. "It got Journey Brown out there where people noticed him," Meadville coach Ray Collins said. "He's got kind of a catchy name, and people are waking up the morning a6er that game and they're reading about a kid named Journey Brown." Brown's spectacular performance made headlines not only in the local newspa- pers, but in USA Today, Newsweek and ESPN. Brown and Collins 4elded plenty of calls from reporters. But they did not immediately hear from college coaches. It was months later when a Football Bowl Subdivision program 4nally reached out to them. That program was Temple. The Owls already had a Meadville gradu- ate on their roster – defensive back Artrel Foster – and once they o5ered a scholar- ship, Brown seemed destined to follow in his footsteps. He didn't give a verbal commitment, but even a6er rushing for 2,791 yards as a senior, Temple was still his most appeal- ing o5er. As signing day approached, Brown was set to let the Temple coaches know that he planned on signing with the Owls. "Penn State was my No. 1 choice out of the whole thing, but they didn't have a scholarship for me," he said. "So Temple was looking good then. We were going to go down that Friday, then I got a call from Coach Franklin." The phone call had been long awaited. Brown's relationship with James Franklin and his coaching sta5 dated back to the summer before his senior season. Collins had been in sporadic communica- tion with Joe Moorhead, who at the time was preparing for his 4rst season as the Lions' o5ensive coordinator. Moorhead said he wanted to see Brown at camp. Brown accepted the invitation, and when he got to Penn State he put on another show. "Coach Franklin timed [the 40-yard dash] himself, and he ran a 4.4," Collins said. "Instantly, you could see the ex- citement that was generated by that run." Penn State's coaches kept a close eye on the 5-foot-11, 194-pound Brown throughout the day, and before leaving he and Collins were called into Franklin's of- 4ce. In similar situations, that's when prospects are o5ered a scholarship. But not Brown, not on that day. "Everybody in the room knew that he still had a lot to prove academically yet," Collins said. "That's what I respect about [Franklin]. He is very honest and he tells you the way it is. He told Journey, I'm not going to make you an o5er today. We'll talk down the road, but I want to see how you do academically. He dangled the car- rot out there in front of Journey's nose and basically said, if you want this you're going to have to work for it." Brown took heed. He knew he had to play catch-up, and that wasn't some- thing he was used to doing. But during the next school year he reversed course. He met with guidance counselors who re- viewed his transcripts and then aligned his classes so that he could satisfy the classroom requirements. Teachers spent extra time with him on an academic plan, and his coaches called and texted fre- quently to keep him on track. "It was like everybody got on team Journey Brown," Collins said. "Everybody had a role to play." It eventually succeeded. Franklin called in January with the news that Penn State | THE BROWN FILE STATS Set a Pennsylvania record with 722 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns in a game vs. DuBois during his junior season... Rushed for 2,791 yards (12.8 yards per attempt) and scored 45 TDs as a senior... Amassed 7,027 rushing yards and 106 TDs in his career HONORS Named a three-star recruit by Rivals.com... Received first-team All-State honors from the Pennsylva- nia Football Writers and made the Pennsylvania Football News' first-team 5A All-State squad as a senior... Was a three-time All-Region honoree CLICK HERE to see video of Brown in action. Penn State Athletics SEE BROWN PAGE 59