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StumbleuponCenterville grad Brown is Indiana's 'anchor' on defense
Sitting out a season in high school made him realize how important football was to him.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Indiana University defensive tackle Greg Brown pretended to be content with his decision to quit the football team before his sophomore year at Centerville High School, but the one person he couldn't fool was himself.
He still attended most of the games that season, yet he didn't see much of the action.
"Sitting in the stands, I couldn't even look at the field because I saw all my guys I grew up with working their butts off, and here I was sitting in the stands watching," he said. "There were times when I'd cover up, and I'd go home and cry because I really wanted to be there and I didn't know what the heck I was doing."
He seemed destined to sit out his junior year, too, but he came to his senses and called coach Ron Ullery.
"I was just sleeping one day in the summer in July, and I felt it was something with God. I said, 'What am I doing, man? I'm sitting here not doing anything with my life, just going to school,' " Brown said.
"Coach Ullery told me I had to earn my way back and the team had to vote me back on because I had missed so much running. I remember each day having to run until I dang-near puked, but that's what I wanted to do. I'd do whatever I could to get back on the team. I thank the team for voting me back because I wouldn't be in this position if they didn't."
The 6-foot-2, 300-pound Brown has turned into a stalwart on defense as a three-year starter for the Hoosiers, helping them to a bowl game last year for the first time since 1993.
The fifth-year senior had 50 tackles in 2007, tied for ninth on the team.
"He's a big physical guy that moves well," IU coach Bill Lynch said. "He can get up and down the line of scrimmage. He can chase things from behind, and yet he's strong enough to be a force at the point of attack. You've got to have an anchor in the middle, and he's our anchor.
"He's developed into a real leader on our football team. I think early on Greg was a really shy guy or reserved, but now you can see the leadership coming out of him."
Brown spent a year after high school at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia. Ullery credits that disciplined atmosphere for helping the player see his potential.
"Greg was always a good kid, but he never would take things quite as seriously as he should," Ullery said. "He thought things would work out for him without making a commitment. When he came back, he was a lot more mature, a lot more motivated and saw he could go some places if he wanted to.
"Everybody grows up at different rates, and he grew up later than some, but he's come a long way."
