Morton Ranch High School, Mavericks, Texas high school football, Katy ISD, Brandon Brown

Wrecking offenses a science for Morton Ranch’s Brown

By JIM MCCURDY, Times Correspondent
Posted 8/28/19

Brandon Brown has his dad to thank.

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Morton Ranch High School, Mavericks, Texas high school football, Katy ISD, Brandon Brown

Wrecking offenses a science for Morton Ranch’s Brown

Posted

Brandon Brown has his dad to thank.

Brown, a 6-foot-1, 305-pound defensive tackle at Morton Ranch, grew up in New Orleans in a rough environment. His dad removed him from that situation, and now he’s flourishing in Katy.

“I love it,” Brown said. “My dad put me in a (better) position, and I just love it. My dad is a big inspiration.”

One of Katy’s highly-decorated recruits this season, Brown has drawn the eye of roughly 20 schools, and he verbally committed to Tulane, his hometown university, in early August.

Already a terror in wrecking plays, Brown, who is flirting with a 3.0 grade point average, made a name for himself as a sophomore. It carried over to his junior year last season when he was first team All-District and drew attention as a player to watch in the Greater Houston area.

“Whoever gets him is going to get a heck of a player,” Mavericks coach Ron Counter said. “He’s definitely going to be the leader of the team.”

Clocked at five seconds in the 40-yard dash, Brown can go sideline to sideline to run down ballcarriers. He’s a menace in the backfield, and don’t be surprised if you see him chasing down someone in front of him this year.

“He’s one of those rare defensive linemen,” Counter said. “There’s not many guys 6-1, 305 who can run like he does. He’s pretty light on his feet.”

Big-time schools want to see him become more explosive out of his stance. Brown is working on that with his defensive line coach, and if nothing else, he’s trying to prove it to himself this season.

“I’m already explosive,” he said. “My get-off could be faster. I’m just trying to improve my weaknesses and my get-off. My technique is there, but they want me to get off the wall.”

Coming off knee surgery in the offseason after his sophomore year, Brown had no problem bouncing off a wall, if you will. When he stepped onto the field in his first game last year against Cypress Lakes, he tore it up. Better yet, he tore up the Spartans, making seven tackles, including five for loss, a sack and a safety.

Offenses know about him. They try to game plan to take him out of the play, and often double team him, but Brown is OK with that.

“I know since I’ve been getting hype … I’ve just got to deal with it,” he said. “Either, I’m going to win my battle or help my teammates win their battle.”

As a junior, Brown had 52 tackles, including 39 solos, for an average of 5.2 per game. He had nine sacks, 27 tackles for loss, forced two fumbles and recovered another.

“I think he’s the best defensive lineman in our district,” Counter said. “He’s pretty quick for his size, he’s got pretty good agility and quickness. We could even play him at fullback or tight end.

“He was in the backfield a lot. He made plays every week. He plays hard, and he plays with a motor. I think Brandon’s got a chance to play on Sundays (in the NFL). I’ve had 10 or 12 of them, and he has the potential.”

During the spring game earlier this year, Brown fired out of his stance as the quarterback scrambled out of the pocket. Moving left to right, he came flying across the field and whacked the quarterback, showing off his sideline-to-sideline capability.

“Yeah, that’s a player right there,” echoed the response.

Now he has another year left to have fun wreaking havoc as he chases down something bigger than just a quarterback.

“I want to play college ball, but I want to go to the league, play in the NFL,” Brown said.

Either way, as he continues to work on getting off the ball and handling his business in the classroom, Brown is considering communications or science, if not business, to study in college. He never really cared much about science, but one day one of his teachers explained the nuance behind it all, and he’s been hooked on breaking down molecular structures and atomic properties.

Kind of like how he breaks down offenses. Rest assured, for Brandon Brown, there’s a science behind it.

(This story is featured in the Katy Times' On the Grid high school football preview magazine that came out Aug. 29).

Morton Ranch High School, Mavericks, Texas high school football, Katy ISD, Brandon Brown