Summertime can be a great opportunity to rest for some athletes.
Indianola native and St. Joe offensive lineman Landon Brown saw this past summer as an opportunity to put in more work and get as much visibility as possible from college football recruits around the state and the Southeast.
“If you want to be great, you just have to put the work in,” Brown told The Enterprise-Tocsin last week. “A lot of people want to be great, but they don’t want to put the work in, but you have to put the work in. Whatever you put into it, that’s what you’ll get out of it. I feel like my hard work and effort are paying off for me now.”
Indeed, it has.
Brown, the son of Chrisanna Moore and Dr. Adrian Brown of Indianola, was recently named a 3-Star recruit by 24/Sports and was named an All-State player by Mississippi Gridiron.
This, after winning a state championship under John Baker at St. Joe last season, and Brown is hoping to get one more title ring this fall before departing for college next year.
Helping his cause as well is his dedication to classwork off the field. Brown currently has a 3.1 GPA and has scored sufficient on the ACT.
As for the accolades in the sports media world, Brown said it is something that he’s proud of.
“It means a lot to me,” he said. “Here in the Delta, you don’t see that all the time. The head coach that I have, he’s worked with all types of guys…He knows what he’s doing. He’s going to put you in a position to make plays.”
Brown said he’s looking forward to playing out this last season for the Irish on the O-Line.
“I feel like I’m a dog, and I’m going to be physical at the point of attack. I’m somebody that’s going to hit the other team in the mouth and be physical the whole game,” he said.
Brown said over a dozen seniors graduated after the state championship season in 2022, something that led him to step up to become more of a leader in 2023.
“I feel like I have to step up and be a leader now and get on the young guys when they’re messing up. We just have to lead them. Players have to lead,” he said.
So far, from the college level, he has firm offers from Mississippi Valley State University and Alcorn State University, he said, with growing interest from other schools like Mississippi State, Ole Miss, University of Southern Mississippi, Miami, Western Kentucky and Florida.
Landon Brown hopes his hard work this past summer pays off in more college offers.
Landon Brown hopes his hard work this past summer pays off in more college offers.
Brown visited many of those schools — as well as Louisiana Tech this year and the University of Memphis last year — for summer camps in the last few months.
“It was good to get up there and see those campuses, in different environments and work with different recruits and work with different coaches,” he said.
Brown said he was able to get a bird’s eye view of the programs’ philosophies and offensive schemes.
One, in particular, Miami, stood out to him.
“I like how the coaches teach things, not just going through it, but they want you to do it,’ Brown said. “They’re teaching you stuff and breaking it down, why it’s important.”
Brown said he hopes his exposure this summer and his work ethic during the regular season will pay off in more offers.
“They’re just waiting to see me in mid-season, so I think I should be receiving some big offers soon,” he said.
Brown said the coaches at the camps he visited have encouraged him to keep getting stronger and work on his skills this fall.
“Most coaches are telling me to keep on working and stuff like that, just keep improving,” Brown said. “Stars don’t mean nothing, because when you get to the next level, it’s going to be three-, four- and five-stars that you have to go against in practice every day.”
First thing is first for Brown. He intends to lead the Irish back to victory in the state title game later this year.
He’ll forge that path, and the path to college by getting better every week.
“Just keep improving each week. Put it out on film and then show why you are a high-caliber guy,” he said.
