Everette Brown

[Darth Bobo]

I apologize if this material is a rerun, but its good so I'll share it.

CHARLOTTE (MCT) — The soccer games were finished that Saturday for Everette Brown and his younger brother, Tobias. Now it was time for their weekly treat: lunch at McDonald's on the way home.

But as their father, Odell, started the car for the short drive from Wilson to Stantonsburg in Eastern North Carolina, he turned to the boys. He was angry about what he thought was a poor effort given by Everette and Tobias — both still in elementary school — in their games that morning.

"If you can't go out there and push yourselves on the soccer field, you don't deserve McDonald's today," he said. "If you're going to lay back like that, you can spend your Saturdays at home cutting the grass and working in the yard."

Instead, Odell took the boys to a field next to their grandmother's house.

"Y'all ain't tired," he said. "So get out there and run!"

Since that punishing afternoon, going all-out was never again an issue with Everette Brown. His full-force effort on every play as a defensive end at Florida State was a trait much-admired by the Carolina Panthers, who made him their top choice in April's NFL draft (in the second round, 43rd overall).

And if hearing his named called by his home-state team culminated one big day in Brown's life, it had no more influence on him than that Saturday years ago.

"Oh, man, I remember it like it was yesterday," Brown said. "My brother and I were walking around the soccer field like we didn't want to be there. It showed. My dad didn't let it go unknown that he wasn't happy.

"That's carried over for me. Every time I step on the field, I give it everything.

"No matter what."

Family values

Located 225 miles east of Charlotte, Stantonsburg (population: 706) is surrounded by tobacco and cotton fields. A two-traffic-light town, Stantonsburg has a quiet business district that includes a coin laundry, town hall, a Mexican restaurant, a car-repair shop and antique and drug stores. Railroad tracks run through town.

In a small brick house one block from downtown, Odell and Jenai Brown continue to raise a family that includes Everette's younger brother Tobias (a senior at nearby Wilson Beddingfield High School) and sister Deandrea, 12. Older brother Deforest, 30, still lives in the area.

The Brown household runs on equal doses of love, respect and responsibility.

"We've stayed together by staying humble and showing what being together as a family can do," said Odell Brown, a department manager at a paper production company in Wilson. "You help the children understand that when things don't go right, you talk it out and work it out."

Everette's childhood was filled with days of playing football, basketball, baseball and soccer and running track. But he also spent time with his two grandmothers, helping them with chores.

"Anything he could do to help, he would," said Jenai. "Taking out the trash, cutting the grass, sweeping floors, vacuuming, washing dishes."

He looked after Tobias after school, when Odell and Jenai were still at work.

That sense of responsibility followed him from home to church, where he was an usher at Bethel AME Zion.

It followed him to middle school, where one afternoon he was the only member of the boys' basketball team who didn't grab an ice-cream sandwich from the cafeteria when they thought nobody was looking. (Odell said everybody on the team, except for Everette, was suspended.)

It followed him to Beddingfield, where he was an excellent student and a football team leader.

It was with him at Florida State, where Brown volunteered at elementary and middle schools and organizations such as The Able Trust and MDA Summer Camp. Last summer, he showed up without invitation at a football camp in Wilson and talked to the youngsters.

"As an athlete, you're put in a position to be a positive role model," Brown said. "People see the lifestyle you lead — watching your games on TV, the highlights on ESPN. They see you as a big, bad football player. This gives you a chance to have the kids see another side of you. As a person, they can respect you now and it gives them a better outlook on you."

Said Beddingfield coach Tyrone Johnson: "How many times can you say your best student, your hardest worker, your best player — your best kid — are all the same person? We had that with Everette."

'Known for my pursuit'

Brown started for four seasons at Beddingfield, and his impact was immediate.

"He was better than anybody I played with in Division II college football," said Bruins assistant coach James Ward. "And he was a freshman in high school."

Brown soon became the most feared defensive player in Beddingfield's conference, the Eastern Carolina 3A.

"You couldn't block him," Johnson said.

Opposing teams ran their offenses away from whichever side of the defensive line Brown was playing.

"It was very frustrating," Brown said. "You're always chasing balls from behind and not really getting a challenging opportunity to get to the guy."

Johnson moved Brown to middle linebacker, allowing him a shorter route to the ball carrier. He became more dominant.

But Brown had grown accustomed to running across the field to make tackles. He was treating every play that way.

"In the long run it helped me," Brown said. "What I'm known for now is my pursuit: coming up from behind, stripping the ball and making the tackle. When the ball goes away from me, I don't feel like I'm out of the play."

Or out of the game.

When Beddingfield was in the process of losing a big lead against West Craven during Brown's senior season, a Bruins assistant coach worried they would lose.

Brown got in his face.

"Come on coach!" Johnson remembered Brown shouting. "Get your lip up! We're not losing this game!"

"He wasn't disrespectful about it," Johnson said. "And we won."

Small by NFL standards

Brown's high-revving "motor" also served him well at Florida State, which he chose over North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Georgia and N.C. State because of the Seminoles' aggressive defensive style. He was runner-up for the ACC's defensive-player-of-the-year award in 2008. He started two full seasons for the Seminoles and had 23 sacks in his career, tying for fifth on Florida State's all-time list. He also had 40 tackles for losses.

After his redshirt junior season, Brown decided to take the sociology degree he earned last December and head to the NFL. Despite being small by NFL standards for a defensive end (6-feet-1, 256 pounds), he was generally regarded as a first-round draft prospect.

The Panthers, without a first-round pick and in need of help on the defensive line, thought so highly of Brown that they traded their 2010 first-rounder to the San Francisco 49ers to get him early in the second round.

"Whether he's 6-4 or 6-1, as long as a guy can play and be productive, it doesn't matter," said Panthers coach John Fox. "We haven't changed that philosophy. We liked him as a football player."

When new defensive coordinator Ron Meeks was with the Indianapolis Colts, he helped mold defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis — both small by NFL thinking — into Pro Bowl-caliber players.

"Everette," Odell Brown said to his son last week, "they said Dwight Freeney was too small. Now he's one of the highest paid defensive players in the league. That shows you that all you have to do is go out there and compete. Play every down."

[rayzor]

yeah, i think that it has been posted before but still a great read.

i am incredibly psyched about seeing this kid play.

[jasonluckydog]

Yeah it's a repost but a good article.

[HSCBandit07]

like the guys father. I don't think we will be complaining about this guy taking plays off.