Sammy Brown punts, runs, and tackles his way to helping Dragons earn a win

Sammy Brown looks for running room against Wren (Photo by Merrell Mann).

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sun Aug 27 07:00:07 GMT-04:00 2023

PIEDMONT – Sammy Brown led his teammates onto the field Friday night, led them on the field, and was the first in line for postgame handshakes. He’s everything you want in a linebacker on and off the field.

Brown, a 5-star Clemson commit out of Jefferson (GA), made the short bus ride to the Upstate Friday night as his Dragons took on the Wren Hurricanes. The game was delayed a few minutes at the start as officials waited for the field temps to drop below 88 degrees, but once the game started the heat still played a factor.

That didn’t stop Brown from rushing for two scores as Jefferson earned a hard-fought 30-14 victory. TigerNet was on hand to watch the proceedings, and there are more than a few observations from the contest.

Let’s start with Wren, if you will allow me, and new head coach Anthony Frate. His offensive line coach is Phillip Price, who had his group ready to play against Brown and the Dragons. A couple of early turnovers by Jefferson kept the game close and Wren used everything from 12 personnel to the quick game to move the chains and keep the ball out of the hands of Brown and the Dragons.

Brown was easy to spot in pregame warm-ups with his No. 1 jersey, and he’s easy to spot when he’s on the field. A few takeaways from his play – he showed good speed on a few different runs. One was on the sideline early when he ran over one defender and juked out another on his way to a big gain. His second touchdown was another chance to run someone over and then make a move. He finally burst through a couple of defenders and waltzed in for the score.

At linebacker, he tracks well and once he zeroes in on the ballcarrier, he does so with authority. On one play early in the contest, Wren ran a counter and Brown took one step to his right, diagnosed the play and met the runner in the gap for a loss.

I had someone tell me that Brown is only an inside backer at the next level, and that’s what Brown told us after the game. But he tracks the ball so well and has the kind of football speed that would allow him to play outside. He told us that is one part of his game he’s working on – he wants to be better in coverage.

And then the surprise of the night – Brown was also the punter. He said he learned on Tuesday of game week that he would be punting and didn’t really get a chance to practice it his week. His first punt probably covered 40-plus yards and was downed inside the three-yard line.

His second punt also had a nice roll and covered over 50 yards.

There were 1700 fans in attendance to watch, many of them decked out in orange, and Brown took notice.

”It was definitely unique. I was really happy to see a bunch of orange up in the stands and see a lot of Clemson fans supporting so it was really cool to see that,” Brown said. “It was cool…I was very happy with the crowd, that was like a playoff game so it was a really good experience.”

Brown noted that the game was sloppy – everybody had a hand in it – and he is working tirelessly to make himself a better player.

“I think the biggest thing is just refining my skills and making sure that I’m playing at the best that I can, playing with the best ability,” Brown said. “You know, I really worked hard this off-season on my pass rush, coming off the edge and all that.”

It's obvious that Brown is a leader on the field - one it seems like he never leaves - and he's animated and vocal when its needed. He also makes sure to lead his teammates on and off the field, and when he walked off the field after the game to head to the locker room, he turned around to the let the assembled media know he would spend some time with his teammates and then head back out.

As the questions continued to pop up, a Jefferson staffer yelled out, "One more minute, Sammy, or we are leaving without you."

Brown smiled, and I nodded at the staffer and said something along the lines of they would not dare leave Sammy behind. He laughed and said, "I am sure some of these Clemson folks would gladly give him a ride and take him straight to Dabo's house."