Life in the dead zone
Edgewater’s Brown, others hindered by NCAA extension of recruiting dead period
Kenneth Brown was stunned when he first heard about the NCAA’s decision.
The Edgewater High defensive lineman had worked all day, so he first learned the NCAA extended its recruiting “dead period” through the end of July at about 9 p.m. Wednesday. The decision meant college recruiters could not hit the road or host camps to help identify potential recruits.
“Wow. That is crazy,” Brown said of the NCAA decision.
Many players are now faced with a dilemma. If an athlete was already on the recruiting radar before the coronavirus shutdown, then the isolation measures have given them more time with recruiters who aren’t busy traveling. But if a player was relying on the spring and summer recruiting season to get attention, those opportunities are gone.
“Well, the news was going to come one way or another,” said Brown, a teen with a strong belief in good things coming to those who stay the course amid adversity. “It makes me feel like it’s going to be an even bigger challenge, but it’s just more motivation.
“Now I know I’m really going to have to get out there and bust my behind and make everyone know who I am … every practice, every game, weight room, even in school, just leave my print wherever I go.”
Brown, one of the top-ranked but lightly recruited defensive linemen in Central Florida, was relying on what was left of the summer recruiting season to get college coaches’ attention. Despite a stellar junior season, during which he helped lead Edgewater to the Class 7A state title game, Brown still had no scholarship offers.
When the NCAA shut down the on
campus recruiting and the state shut down high school sports to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, it left few options for numerous athletes still looking to prove they can play college football.
“It’s just a shocker because everything had already been pushed back, but now I feel like I’m going to have to grind 10 times harder, 10 times better than the person across from me or next to me,” Brown said. “Now it’s a shorter amount of time where coaches are really able to see you, so you’re going to really have to sell yourself to the coaches.”
The NCAA’s decision further limited the timeframe prospects will have in front of recruiters. Players still looking for attention are relying on game film from last season.
“I’ve sent a lot more film out from this past season and I’ve kept hitting the gym hard, working out and staying fit,” Brown said.
Brown and his peers also are waiting for word from Gov. Ron DeSantis on whether schools will reopen this fall. No high school sports will be played until schools reopen.
FHSAA executive director George Tomyn said the return to sports normalcy is complicated and at the high school level will be based largely on broader decisions handed down by DeSantis, the state Department of Education, health officials and Florida’s 67 school districts.
“We are an education-based athletics organization. Education comes first,” Tomyn said. “We do believe it’s very important for our schools to be open when athletic activities do resume. We don’t know what that is going to look like at this point. There is still so much that is unknown.”
Tomyn acknowledged in a phone interview with the Orlando Sentinel last week that the FHSAA has been asked if football teams could be allowed to begin fall practices earlier or have several weeks of practice in June or July to make up for the loss of spring practices.
“We’re not in any way shape or form ready at this point to make specific decisions on those issues,” he said. “Our board of directors has asked us to have some discussion about possible changes in our summer policies in our next meeting.”
The FHSAA board is scheduled to meet June 8-9, probably via videoconference.
What Brown knows, of course, is that whatever he does from this stage forward will be extremely important. Edgewater coach Cameron Duke’s response to the NCAA rules and its impact on players like Brown was that, “Kenneth Brown is going to be OK.”
That can’t be said about a lot of people, but Duke knows his player.
“I feel fortunate that we played 16 games last year and it helps those guys get more of a true evaluation,” Duke said, noting it was far better than a 10-game season for a team that didn’t make the playoffs. “But we can’t control any of it and we have to be flexible and just roll with it.
“Kenneth has had an unbelievable offseason. He’s stronger than he was in December and he’s worked his tail off. He’s on my unity council. He’s one of those guys who just gets better every day. … He’s as good as it gets as a human being and as a player. He’s tough, physical and a leader and smart. He’s a can’t-miss kid, in my opinion.”
Edgewater’s five playoff games are going to be a big part of what Brown will now highlight for college recruiters.
“Those games were a great steppingstone, actually. That helped put me out there more than a lot of other people, who didn’t have that opportunity,” Brown said. “I’ve been talking to a lot of coaches, but still nothing official from any school. No one has really dropped the ball or made an offer yet.”
Brown also is going to have to overcome his size. He’s 6-foot and 275 pounds of relentless energy, but many college recruiters want bigger, taller defensive linemen. Last year, Brown had 38 tackles, four tackles for loss and three sacks. He also said he needs to improve his college entrance exam scores.
“My grades are good, but I can improve my test scores,” Brown said.
Those exams have been postponed due to the coronavirus, giving him fewer opportunities to raise his scores.
Brown, however, makes no excuses.
“I brought it upon myself, because I delayed me taking the tests since I could have taken it earlier when a lot of other players had taken it,” Brown said. “It’s just another challenge that I’m going to have to face, but I know that I can overcome it.
“I just feel like this is a big test of my will and my faith and my effort. It’s going to make me push harder for everything that has to come.” That faith keeps him grounded. “Like when I see other players get offers, I know God does everything for a reason and I just pray and I feel like he’s opening my eyes and he’s telling me that whatever you can put your mind to, you can do it,” Brown said. “So he’s saying stop procrastinating with things. That’s when things are going to be delayed in life. I really think that’s something that God was trying to tell me.
“As I have stopped procrastinating, more coaches have been calling me and texting me. I just have to put forth better effort and communicating with God himself. It’s making a change. He paved the way, but it’s up to me to walk along this path that He paved for me.”
Brown’s desire to play football at the major college level is not only about himself. He’s a mentor to his nephew, 9-year-old Willie Wilson.
“It’s very important, because, honestly, for him, I feel like I can’t mess up,” Brown said of his nephew. “He looks up to me so much and I know if I mess up, it’s going to impact more than just me. It’s going to impact him because he really looks up to me. He’s been taking every step that I’ve been taking.
“He wants to do everything that I do so if I mess up, he’s going to feel like he can mess up. I can’t have that happen. He really inspires me to do a lot better in life.”
Brown credited one of his own mentors, former UCF player and current Edgewater defensive line coach E.J. Dunston, for his perspective.
“The way Coach E.J. sold this past season to us was that we weren’t playing for ourselves, but we were playing for our brothers around us … and also our coaches,” Brown said. “It was more than just myself and I had to think outside of the box, and Coach E.J. is a big, big part of me really bursting out this year.
“And now bigger and better things to come.”