Video: Arizona Cardinals' John Brown high school highlightsIt's likely no one else has taken John Brown's path to the NFL. Check that — most assuredly, no one has. Likely never will.
From
Homestead (Fla.) high school to Mars Hill College (N.C.) to Coffeyville Community College in Kansas to Pittsburg State University, the current standout wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals earned AP Little All-American honors.
That also garnered him some attention at the next level, where the Cardinals took him in the third round of the 2014 NFL draft.
While navigating his way through the lower levels of college football, he also had to overcome the shooting death of his half-brother and lifelong best friend James "Junior" Walker. That has made his journey all the more unlikely and inspiring, said one of his assistant coaches at Homestead.
"I tell you what — it was a struggle, a big, big struggle at the beginning and in the middle, but in his mind, John always thought he deserved to play top-level football and he wouldn't accept anything else," said Anton Hall, who is now an assistant at
Gulliver Prep (Miami).
John Brown (11) was an All-Dade County receiver as a senior at Homestead (Fla.) in 2007.
File photo by Andres Bastidas
Hall said he always knew Brown had the ability he's showing in the NFL now.
He made a highlight reel of Brown while in high school, trying to get major schools interested in him. Brown was an All-Dade County receiver — no small feat in perhaps the richest football hotbed in the country — selected by local newspapers.
"To be honest, I was one of the few who had faith in him and believed that he was that type of player that he has become today," Hall said. "He was dead set on playing at a Division I school, but his grades weren't good enough. I tried to always tell him, it doesn't matter if it's Division II or Division III or Division I — if you're good enough, the NFL will find you."
After a brilliant career at Pittsburg State, the Cardinals found him and in his rookie season Brown had 48 catches for 696 yards and five touchdowns. This season he was even better with 65 catches for 1,003 yards and seven scores. Hall said he saw something special in Brown as a prep.
"He was a phenomenal player and hard worker," Hall said. "He wasn't the biggest kid — one of the smaller ones, in fact, but he outran everyone and out-worked anyone on the team. And he was always tough."
He had to work hard in order to overcome his brother's death. The two were inseparable, said their mother Cassandra Bryant, who watched them play Pee Wee football together since they were 5-years-old.
Instead of falling into the street life after Walker's death, Hall said, Brown became more determined to make it to the NFL.
"He felt like he had to do it for himself and his brother," Hall said.
Brown took his brother's No. 5 in college and told friends the first time he touched the ball in a game for Pittsburg State, he would score for Walker. He kept his promise with a spectacular 84-yard punt return for a touchdown.
Like he does after every touchdown now, Brown pointed to the sky in honor of Walker.
Hall, who has made between 50-75 highlight videos for South Florida kids to help them get college scholarships, said he gets a special feeling watching Brown now in the NFL. Brown's video was the first one he made.
"It's kind of like when I watch him now I see the same kid back in high school," Hall said. "It sounds crazy, but he still runs the same, makes the same cuts he did in high school. I know he's much faster now. He's learned a lot more. But overall he just looks like the same kid. It makes me feel good inside."
Hall sent us Brown's high school video and now we're sharing it with you. Brown and the Cardinals travel to Carolina in Sunday's NFC championship game on CBS.
"I'll definitely be watching," Hall said.
