A day after taking a trip to eyeball a potential future home, Shawnee High School senior-to-be Brayle Brown didn’t mince words concerning his Wolves’ upcoming football season.
“I’m just ready to get it started,” said Brown, quarterback and son of SHS head coach Billy Brown.
Brown spent some time this week in Tennessee as part of a one-day camp to let coaches at Vanderbilt University look over some potential prospects. Brown was one of 13 signal callers to show their stuff, and one of more than 60 athletes to get an up-close look at Vanderbilt’s football program.
“It’s kind of a tough school to get into,” Brown said, adding that he is hopeful of earning a spot should he settle on VU as his school of choice.
Aside from the day-long camp — which included a variety of basic drills and some film viewing — Brown and the other participants took advantage of some downtime and toured Nashville.
“It was really, really sweet,” Brown said. “It was fun. Nashville’s a really fun place, and I enjoyed it.”
Brown was recently featured on the cover of the fall 2010 issue of “VYPE High School Sports Magazine’s” Oklahoma Football Preview alongside five other Sooner State QBs and former University of Oklahoma quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Jason White. In what the publication is calling “The Year of the Quarterback,” Brown was
featured with Jenks quarterback Sawyer Kollmorgen; Southmoore quarterback Kendal Thompson; Bartlesville quarterback Kirby Schoenthaler; Bridge Creek quarterback Ryan Spangler; and Atoka quarterback L.T. Pfaff.
Brown said he has gotten a ton of feedback on his cover shot, despite the fact that he was not even present when the photo was taken. Shawnee was holding team camp on the day of the photo shoot, so Brown’s image had to be cropped in.
He has never met the players he is pictured with.
“I didn’t meet them, but just to be on the cover was neat,” Brown said.
And being able to share the cover with someone who is touted as Oklahoma’s next all-time high school passing leader is not too shabby either, Brown said. Pfaff, who threw for more than 3,600 yards last season, has more than 8,000 to his name over the span of his career at Atoka.
Despite the recent revelation that Shawnee will drop back into the Class 5A ranks, Brown and his fellow gridiron companions are locked into a two-year deal at 6A. The only thing Brown believes could put up a speed bump when it comes to being a solid competitor is depth — Shawnee just may not have as many bodies as their opponents.
To make up for this, Brown and many of his teammates will have to split duties on both sides of the ball, Brown said.
“But I enjoy it. I hate coming off the field,” said Brown, who believes he will rotate through the defensive backs positions as needed.
“Whenever somebody gets tired, I’ll just rotate in there.”
The Wolves will share District 6A-3 with Tulsa-area juggernauts Jenks and Broken Arrow. The Jenks Trojans, along with the Tulsa Union Redskins, are definitely a force to be reckoned with in Oklahoma’s upper echelon of football. Since 1996, Jenks has claimed the Class 6A crown nine times — while Union has snagged it the other five times.
The way Brown sees it — they’re just names.
“The thing about 6A is if you can get past the name,” Brown said. “They’re teenaged kids and they put on pads just like us.
“I think we’ll be all right if we just get past the name. We’re not just going to roll over and take a beating. We’re going to go out and compete. That’s all we can do.”
Shawnee opens its 2010 season with a home contest Sept. 3 against non-district opponent Bartlesville.
SHAWNEE, Okla. —
