M. Davidson and D. Brown expectations

[toddc 13,194]

I believe the biggest "newcomer" on defense will be Paul James III if you look at all first year players on defense. That one stop for loss in A-Day game was awesome, and I believe a sign of great things to come. His disruption of the offensive flow would be a huge boost for Lawson's stats!! I realize he is not a freshman though.

[SCBusPilot 72]

This is an unusually great al.com article on Mr. Brown.  Sounds like we got a very good Auburn Man. 

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2016/07/meet_gentle_giant_derrick_brow.html

"A beast on the field, and off the field he's a teddy bear."

There's probably no better way to describe Derrick Brown than the way his mother does.

Brown may only be an 18-year-old college freshman, but he's already the second largest player on Auburn's roster at 6-foot-5, 330 pounds. His tremendous size, coupled with an exceptional skill set, transformed the defensive tackle into one of the most sought-after high school football players in the nation during the 2016 recruiting cycle.

When he wasn't tossing ball carriers into the ground, Brown's experiences and positive upbringing shaped him into an easy-going, mature and all-around humble young man.

"He is a physical specimen. He is a violent player. He doesn't take plays off," said Korey Mobbs, Brown's former head coach at Lanier High School in Buford, Georgia. "He's a mammoth of a human, but what people really don't know is, when you take that helmet off, he's a very gentle giant."

 

VALUABLE LESSONS

Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, Brown grew up near Starkville, where both his parents graduated from Mississippi State University. Even though his family moved to Georgia when he was 3, he still considers himself a "Mississippi boy" from the country.

Basketball was Brown's first introduction to sports -- it wasn't until after he turned 9 that he took up football in a local recreational league. Despite being one of the biggest kids around, he was bullied by some of his peers.

"He knew if he did anything wrong that he was going to have to deal with mom and dad," Martha Brown said. "We always told him, 'Derrick, your name is the only thing you earn outright. If you tarnish your name, it takes so much to get back to where it started.' I'm just so glad he listened to us at a time we thought he wasn't listening."

Brown could have retaliated against his bullies, but chose to take the higher ground instead. He ignored the situation and used the gridiron as an outlet for his aggression, forcing his opponents to pay the price.

"It's a physical sport," Brown said. "So all that stuff you hold in you get to take it out every single day when you go out to practice or you play a game."

As he continued to improve his craft, college coaches began taking notice. East Carolina was the first school to offer Brown a football scholarship in October 2013 during his sophomore season at Lanier. Up until that point, Brown's mother believed her son looked at football as a hobby of sorts. But with the new-found realization that he could play at the next level, Brown's confidence went through the roof -- and kept on flying.

More schools offered in the spring of 2014, and he began referring to himself "D1 D-Brown." Seeing what was happening, Brown's parents quickly taught him a valuable lesson in humility.

"He realized that a football team consists of 11 people," Martha Brown said. "And now since you have to play with 10 other players, (he said) 'I have to make these guys feel like they're just as important as I am.' It knocked him back down to Earth big time."

Another lesson came that summer in Baltimore while Brown was participating in a cream-of-the-crop prospect camp.

"One of the players put him on his back," his mother said. "(Now) he always says there's somebody bigger and better than everybody. He knows to stay humble and stay hungry."

When Brown returned to Lanier for his junior season, the shift in attitude was clear to Mobbs.

"To his standards, some guys got the best of him," Mobbs said. "That was good for us because it motivated Derrick to work harder in the weight room. It motivated him to work harder on his craft. So the next summer when he showed up he was kind of on a mission."

Derrick Brown (right) competes at Nike's The Opening in Oregon in 2015. (Wesley Sinor/wsinor@al.com)

 

LIFE AS A FIVE-STAR

Intent on being a better teammate and leading by example, Brown flourished as a junior in 2014. His speed off the ball allowed him to rack up a whopping 17.5 sacks for the Longhorns. As the hype train kept rolling, Brown moved up from a four-star prospect to a consensus five-star prospect by major recruiting services 247Sports, Rivals, Scout and ESPN.

In the high school football world, receiving a five-star rating is akin to becoming a celebrity. There aren't many, but every single one garners heaping amounts of attention. Some players can get carried away with it while others manage to keep it all in perspective. Consider Brown a part of the latter group.

"You can't let this stuff get to your head, because if you do, you'll get straightened out quick," he said. "People try to put all that pressure on you, but at the end of the day it's going to be what you make it. If you know you're a good player, then you're going to go out and perform to the best of your ability. And that's going to show itself... I wasn't worried about the ratings at that time or who all was saying what about me."

GETTING COMFORTABLE ON THE PLAINS

Brown received more than 25 offers and narrowed his contenders to five schools: Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Mississippi State and Tennessee. Most recruiting reporters and fans believed he would wind up in nearby Athens, though Brown never named a leader publicly.

"Everywhere we walked, (people said) 'Love to see you as a Dawg big guy,'" Martha Brown recalls. "It was a lot of pressure on him, but he knew at the end that he had his dad's support. He knew if that's where he wanted to go we would have supported him through that. But yeah there was a lot of pressure. Living in the state of Georgia, Most of the people bleed red and black. It's contagious. But he didn't catch the virus of UGA."

Brown quickly developed a strong relationship with Auburn defensive line coach Rodney Garner and considers him a "father figure." In fact, it was Garner who invited Brown to his first Auburn game -- the "Prayer at Jordan-Hare."

Down 38-37 with 36 seconds left, Auburn needed a miracle to avoid an upset at the hands of rival Georgia, and the Tigers' wish was granted. Nick Marshall's Hail Mary pass was tipped by a pair of Bulldogs before falling into the hands of Auburn's Ricardo Louis in stride for the game-winning touchdown. Brown was heading for the stadium exits with fellow recruits just before the play occurred.

"I got chills," Brown said. "I thought the game was over. We were getting ready to leave and head on back, and all of a sudden that place erupted. I was there with a bunch of other recruits and we all just kind of looked at each other like 'Did that just really happen?' "I was excited about what happened. That's probably the loudest I've ever heard a stadium."

Brown returned the following week and attended the Iron Bowl, as Auburn pulled out another thrilling win. Garner made time for Brown on both visits and believes he always felt at home on the Plains.

"I just think the comfort level with this community, being a true college town, I think it definitely played a major role," Garner said.

Brown picks Auburn over Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State and Tennessee on National Signing Day. (ESPN screenshot)

 

THE DECISION

After a senior season in which he produced 12 sacks, 11 pass break-ups and an interception for a touchdown, Brown went on to play in the 2016 U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio. Then it came time to hunker down and make a decision. 

"After I came off my official visit to Auburn (in January) I texted my mom and dad and told them 'I feel like this is where I need to be at. This feels like home.'" Brown said. "I grew up in the country, so that atmosphere, I can get used to that again. It'd be no problem for me to adapt to it because at the end of the day I want to be somewhere that I want to be for four years."

After several weeks of speculation, Brown made it official on the eve of National Signing Day in February. With his parents by his side, he called five SEC head coaches. Only Auburn's Gus Malzahn received good news. The following day with a national television audience watching, Brown slipped on an Auburn hat during a press conference at Lanier and signed with the Tigers, instantly becoming the gem of the class.

"I mean, yeah, that's based off the numbers," said Brown, who was the No. 9 player in the country according to the 247Sports Composite. "But there have been a lot of times where the top person went into a school and didn't really pan out how everybody thought he was supposed to. I really don't like to put that on myself, because I just feel like now the process has started over. So I have to get started doing everything again."

A solid fall camp next month will be crucial for Brown as a freshman. (Wesley Sinor/wsinor@al.com)

 

THE FUTURE

Brown enrolled at Auburn in May and is not planning on taking his scholarship for granted. He intends to major in business marketing and hopes to work with a big-name sports company one day when his football career is over.

On the field, he now faces the pressure of living up to astronomical expectations and producing as a freshman.

Auburn's fall camp begins Aug. 2, and he's been told by the coaching staff he'll have a chance to crack the rotation on a deep and talented defensive line. He's impressed his teammates during summer workouts -- rising senior Montravius Adams believes he could be one of the SEC's best by the end of the year -- but the only goal Brown has set for himself as a freshman is to contribute to the team.

"He's got the right mentality in handling that pressure," Mobbs said. "The transition from the high school game to the college game is tremendous, and hopefully he understands that. He doesn't understand it to the point that he needs to, but nobody does. My hopes for him are obviously that he gets in there, takes coaching... and is just the best Derrick he can be, regardless of the circumstances. I think he'll do that."

"He had tremendous coaching, technique," Garner added. "And then he has a great God-given skill set. So it will be interesting to see how he adjusts."

Martha Brown, meanwhile, is confident her son will remain a humble teddy bear who will continue to build on what he's learned.

"I just know that if it's something Derrick believes in and wants to do he will excel in it," she said. "That's the type of kid he is."

[Tiger 8,818]

21 minutes ago, SCBusPilot said:

This is an unusually great al.com article on Mr. Brown.  Sounds like we got a very good Auburn Man. 

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2016/07/meet_gentle_giant_derrick_brow.html

"A beast on the field, and off the field he's a teddy bear."

There's probably no better way to describe Derrick Brown than the way his mother does.

Brown may only be an 18-year-old college freshman, but he's already the second largest player on Auburn's roster at 6-foot-5, 330 pounds. His tremendous size, coupled with an exceptional skill set, transformed the defensive tackle into one of the most sought-after high school football players in the nation during the 2016 recruiting cycle.

When he wasn't tossing ball carriers into the ground, Brown's experiences and positive upbringing shaped him into an easy-going, mature and all-around humble young man.

"He is a physical specimen. He is a violent player. He doesn't take plays off," said Korey Mobbs, Brown's former head coach at Lanier High School in Buford, Georgia. "He's a mammoth of a human, but what people really don't know is, when you take that helmet off, he's a very gentle giant."

 

VALUABLE LESSONS

Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, Brown grew up near Starkville, where both his parents graduated from Mississippi State University. Even though his family moved to Georgia when he was 3, he still considers himself a "Mississippi boy" from the country.

Basketball was Brown's first introduction to sports -- it wasn't until after he turned 9 that he took up football in a local recreational league. Despite being one of the biggest kids around, he was bullied by some of his peers.

"He knew if he did anything wrong that he was going to have to deal with mom and dad," Martha Brown said. "We always told him, 'Derrick, your name is the only thing you earn outright. If you tarnish your name, it takes so much to get back to where it started.' I'm just so glad he listened to us at a time we thought he wasn't listening."

Brown could have retaliated against his bullies, but chose to take the higher ground instead. He ignored the situation and used the gridiron as an outlet for his aggression, forcing his opponents to pay the price.

"It's a physical sport," Brown said. "So all that stuff you hold in you get to take it out every single day when you go out to practice or you play a game."

As he continued to improve his craft, college coaches began taking notice. East Carolina was the first school to offer Brown a football scholarship in October 2013 during his sophomore season at Lanier. Up until that point, Brown's mother believed her son looked at football as a hobby of sorts. But with the new-found realization that he could play at the next level, Brown's confidence went through the roof -- and kept on flying.

More schools offered in the spring of 2014, and he began referring to himself "D1 D-Brown." Seeing what was happening, Brown's parents quickly taught him a valuable lesson in humility.

"He realized that a football team consists of 11 people," Martha Brown said. "And now since you have to play with 10 other players, (he said) 'I have to make these guys feel like they're just as important as I am.' It knocked him back down to Earth big time."

Another lesson came that summer in Baltimore while Brown was participating in a cream-of-the-crop prospect camp.

"One of the players put him on his back," his mother said. "(Now) he always says there's somebody bigger and better than everybody. He knows to stay humble and stay hungry."

When Brown returned to Lanier for his junior season, the shift in attitude was clear to Mobbs.

"To his standards, some guys got the best of him," Mobbs said. "That was good for us because it motivated Derrick to work harder in the weight room. It motivated him to work harder on his craft. So the next summer when he showed up he was kind of on a mission."

Derrick Brown (right) competes at Nike's The Opening in Oregon in 2015. (Wesley Sinor/wsinor@al.com)

 

LIFE AS A FIVE-STAR

Intent on being a better teammate and leading by example, Brown flourished as a junior in 2014. His speed off the ball allowed him to rack up a whopping 17.5 sacks for the Longhorns. As the hype train kept rolling, Brown moved up from a four-star prospect to a consensus five-star prospect by major recruiting services 247Sports, Rivals, Scout and ESPN.

In the high school football world, receiving a five-star rating is akin to becoming a celebrity. There aren't many, but every single one garners heaping amounts of attention. Some players can get carried away with it while others manage to keep it all in perspective. Consider Brown a part of the latter group.

"You can't let this stuff get to your head, because if you do, you'll get straightened out quick," he said. "People try to put all that pressure on you, but at the end of the day it's going to be what you make it. If you know you're a good player, then you're going to go out and perform to the best of your ability. And that's going to show itself... I wasn't worried about the ratings at that time or who all was saying what about me."

GETTING COMFORTABLE ON THE PLAINS

Brown received more than 25 offers and narrowed his contenders to five schools: Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Mississippi State and Tennessee. Most recruiting reporters and fans believed he would wind up in nearby Athens, though Brown never named a leader publicly.

"Everywhere we walked, (people said) 'Love to see you as a Dawg big guy,'" Martha Brown recalls. "It was a lot of pressure on him, but he knew at the end that he had his dad's support. He knew if that's where he wanted to go we would have supported him through that. But yeah there was a lot of pressure. Living in the state of Georgia, Most of the people bleed red and black. It's contagious. But he didn't catch the virus of UGA."

Brown quickly developed a strong relationship with Auburn defensive line coach Rodney Garner and considers him a "father figure." In fact, it was Garner who invited Brown to his first Auburn game -- the "Prayer at Jordan-Hare."

Down 38-37 with 36 seconds left, Auburn needed a miracle to avoid an upset at the hands of rival Georgia, and the Tigers' wish was granted. Nick Marshall's Hail Mary pass was tipped by a pair of Bulldogs before falling into the hands of Auburn's Ricardo Louis in stride for the game-winning touchdown. Brown was heading for the stadium exits with fellow recruits just before the play occurred.

"I got chills," Brown said. "I thought the game was over. We were getting ready to leave and head on back, and all of a sudden that place erupted. I was there with a bunch of other recruits and we all just kind of looked at each other like 'Did that just really happen?' "I was excited about what happened. That's probably the loudest I've ever heard a stadium."

Brown returned the following week and attended the Iron Bowl, as Auburn pulled out another thrilling win. Garner made time for Brown on both visits and believes he always felt at home on the Plains.

"I just think the comfort level with this community, being a true college town, I think it definitely played a major role," Garner said.

Brown picks Auburn over Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State and Tennessee on National Signing Day. (ESPN screenshot)

 

THE DECISION

After a senior season in which he produced 12 sacks, 11 pass break-ups and an interception for a touchdown, Brown went on to play in the 2016 U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio. Then it came time to hunker down and make a decision. 

"After I came off my official visit to Auburn (in January) I texted my mom and dad and told them 'I feel like this is where I need to be at. This feels like home.'" Brown said. "I grew up in the country, so that atmosphere, I can get used to that again. It'd be no problem for me to adapt to it because at the end of the day I want to be somewhere that I want to be for four years."

After several weeks of speculation, Brown made it official on the eve of National Signing Day in February. With his parents by his side, he called five SEC head coaches. Only Auburn's Gus Malzahn received good news. The following day with a national television audience watching, Brown slipped on an Auburn hat during a press conference at Lanier and signed with the Tigers, instantly becoming the gem of the class.

"I mean, yeah, that's based off the numbers," said Brown, who was the No. 9 player in the country according to the 247Sports Composite. "But there have been a lot of times where the top person went into a school and didn't really pan out how everybody thought he was supposed to. I really don't like to put that on myself, because I just feel like now the process has started over. So I have to get started doing everything again."

A solid fall camp next month will be crucial for Brown as a freshman. (Wesley Sinor/wsinor@al.com)

 

THE FUTURE

Brown enrolled at Auburn in May and is not planning on taking his scholarship for granted. He intends to major in business marketing and hopes to work with a big-name sports company one day when his football career is over.

On the field, he now faces the pressure of living up to astronomical expectations and producing as a freshman.

Auburn's fall camp begins Aug. 2, and he's been told by the coaching staff he'll have a chance to crack the rotation on a deep and talented defensive line. He's impressed his teammates during summer workouts -- rising senior Montravius Adams believes he could be one of the SEC's best by the end of the year -- but the only goal Brown has set for himself as a freshman is to contribute to the team.

"He's got the right mentality in handling that pressure," Mobbs said. "The transition from the high school game to the college game is tremendous, and hopefully he understands that. He doesn't understand it to the point that he needs to, but nobody does. My hopes for him are obviously that he gets in there, takes coaching... and is just the best Derrick he can be, regardless of the circumstances. I think he'll do that."

"He had tremendous coaching, technique," Garner added. "And then he has a great God-given skill set. So it will be interesting to see how he adjusts."

Martha Brown, meanwhile, is confident her son will remain a humble teddy bear who will continue to build on what he's learned.

"I just know that if it's something Derrick believes in and wants to do he will excel in it," she said. "That's the type of kid he is."

Thanks for sharing. This is a very good article and I feel great about our interior line play for years to come!

[lionheartkc 6,150]

That is an amazing example of good parenting right there. Very supportive of their child and his success, but always teaching humility. Hats off to the Browns. They are definitely Auburn people.

[1auburn1 1,110]

..."the virus of UGA."    Mom definitely gets it!

[augolf1716 21,096]

Kirby lose this one

[chimesAU 89]

On July 15, 2016 at 0:42 AM, ClaytonAU said:

Both will be better than Carl Lawson was his freshmen year barring injury. Bank on it. 

[trout54 55]

WOW!  That's some high praise!  I just hope you are right!!!!!!! WDE