Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘Hollywood’ takes long path to return to roots
Chaminade-Madonna graduate now standout in Oklahoma’s offense
Oklahoma receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown didn’t have the typical path to college football stardom.
He wasn’t recruited by major college football programs coming out of Chaminade-Madonna because he was undersized. Brown, who as his nickname indicates is a Hollywood native, had to go the junior college route before finding a Division I home at Oklahoma. After two successful seasons catching passes for the Sooners, the explosive 5-foot-10, 168-pound speedster will be playing in South Florida for the first time since his days at the Hollywood private school on Saturday night, when No. 4 Oklahoma takes on No. 1 Alabama in the Orange Bowl. The College Football Playoff semifinal at Hard Rock Stadium starts at 8 p.m.
“People down here haven’t really got to see me play in a while, so I’m looking forward to letting them see me in person, in action,” said Brown at Orange Bowl Media Day on Thursday. “The whole city going to come out for this one. We got South Florida players on both teams. A lot of people going to come out. A lot of Hollywood, a lot of Broward County.”
High school football aficiona-
dos in South Florida may not have noticed Brown when he played at Chaminade. He was just 135 pounds at the time, according to Lions assistant coach Tyler Tate. Tate says he couldn’t even pitch him to Division II colleges. As a full academic qualifier, it was off to junior college for Brown.
Going for 50 receptions, 754 yards and 10 touchdowns in 10 games at College of the Canyons in California in the fall of 2016, Brown added the necessary muscle to get up to around his current weight and gained explosiveness to become one of the most coveted junior college recruits in the nation, rated four stars by 247 Sports. He chose Oklahoma over West Virginia in a signing ceremony back at Chaminade in December 2016.
“It was a journey that I’m glad that I had,” Brown said. “I appreciate everyone that’s been with me through this journey. It helps me appreciate
everything.
“I never really had that in my mind that I’m not going to make it. I always knew that someway, somehow I was going to make it happen.”
Last year, Brown burst onto the college football scene, snagging 57 passes for 1,095 yards and seven
touchdowns. He scored the first touchdown of the Sooners’ College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Georgia, a wild 54-48 double-overtime decision, at the end of last season.
Brown topped that in this his junior campaign, going for 75 receptions, 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns in 12 games ahead of Saturday night’s showdown against the Crimson Tide back home.
“I love where I’m from,” said Brown, sporting a shiny chain that read “HOLLY5WOOD” around his neck, 5 being his jersey number. “I love where I come from for the people, and I just love supporting them.”
Brown’s status is in question after he was carted off the field against Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game with a foot injury.
“I feel like I’ll be ready to go by Saturday,” Brown said on Thursday, adding he isn’t 100 percent. He wouldn’t put a precise number on it.
Lessons learned playing football in South Florida may help him push past the difficulty of playing through injury.
“Mental toughness, physical toughness,” Brown said of his takeaways from football locally.
“Playing down here, it’s a lot of trash talking, coaches on you hard, very hard. That’s something that benefits us and gives us tough skin.”
More locals: The Orange Bowl is loaded with South Florida talent beyond Brown and star Alabama receiver Jerry Jeudy, the Biletnikoff Award winner for the nation’s top wideout who graduated from Deerfield Beach.
Freshman Crimson Tide cornerback Patrick Surtain II, the son of the former Miami Dolphins cornerback by the same name who also coached him at American Heritage, is already a starter on Alabama’s defense
“It prepared me a lot,” Surtain said. “Going against top competition every day, I’ll say it helped me develop to become the player I am today.”
Freshman Alabama receiver Xavier Williams ,a Chaminade alum, always envisioned College Football Playoff games involving many of his South Florida brethren.
“We always had conversations about that, just all Florida boys turning up and stuff,” Williams said. “This was really in the plans for me.”
Said OU freshman edge rusher Nik Bonitto: “That’s the best of the best down here. We play big-time football. It just prepared me for college.”
Fellow Oklahoma defensive end/outside linebacker
K’Jakyre Daley, a Suncoast alum, broke down his reaction to finding out he was coming home for the Orange Bowl.
“Orange Bowl right next to home, I was like, ‘OK, we’re talking now,’” said Daley about when it first became a possibility to reach a CFP semifinal. “And when we figured it out, I was like ‘Hell yeah!’ South Florida, next to my family, my whole family coming to the game.”
Deerfield Beach alum and freshman Sooners cornerback Miguel Edwards, who has only played three games during the season, looked back to an interception in the spring game.
“It was just great seeing all the fans, hearing the crowd cheer from you,” Edwards said. “Just the feeling of making the right play at the right moment.”