Tynell Brown came to Curtis imagining a prolific career as a wide receiver. He will leave the Staten Island dynamo with a newfound confidence in himself at the position.
In between, he won a city championship – as a quarterback.
“I’ll never forget that,” he said. “I will always remember my junior year playing quarterback.”
He’s also ready to move on – or, in this case, move back to his old position of receiver.
The speedy 5-foot-10, 165-pound Brown was back there in the 16th annual Empire Challenge and showed he hasn’t forgotten his skills out wide, hauling in three catches for 45 yards in Long Island’s 17-14 win over New York City at Hofstra University Tuesday night. Brown made his biggest impact on slants over the middle, showing little regard for his body in traffic.
“He came up big for me,” NYC quarterback Jordan Paul of New Utrecht said. “He’s a player that has heart – anywhere I put the ball he’ll catch it.”
C.W. Post recruited the versatile Brown as an athlete and has told him he could see playing time at slot receiver this spring. He also has an opportunity to tryout in the secondary as well; the “dark side,” as he called it. Brown actually spent some of his senior year at wide receiver, splitting time under center with freshman phenom Prince Dukes. Brown, in fact, had 11 receptions for 210 yards and two touchdowns this fall.
“That’s where I play – my original spot,” he said. “Put it this way: I’ve played football for seven or eight years and I only played quarterback for two or three years. … I do admit I miss playing quarterback, running a couple of plays, but I was glad to be back at receiver in this game and happy to be playing receiver in college.”
In preparation for the position switch, Brown has played catch as often as possible, even with his mom, Tisha, near their Flushing home. Running precise routes has always come natural. He was worried about going over the middle, having teamed with many of the Long Island players in the Upstate vs. Downstate all-star game.
“Once the game started, all the jitters went away,” he said.
His productive evening drew the attention of future teammate Tyler Heuer, a quarterback from Oceanside who is also going to C.W. Post.
“He’s gonna be a great receiver,” the quarterback said. “He’s got great hands.”
Brown said: “Hopefully he saw what I can do. I was able to showcase my receiving talent in front of [Heuer and Lincoln quarterback Andrew Vital, who is also heading to C.W. Post] and some of my college coaches who were here. They got a little taste.”
Brown won’t ever forget his time at quarterback, however. He was under center as a sophomore on the junior varsity, then won the job his junior year and on a team featuring Division I players Dominique Easley (Florida) and James Timmins (Rhode Island), he was arguably the most valuable in the playoffs, leading fourth-quarter comebacks in wins over Fort Hamilton in the semifinals and Tottenville in the championship game.
During bus trips to practice at Hofstra over the last week, he reminded his NYC teammates of that magical run when they boasted of their own accomplishments.
“All I have to say is I got that ring,” he said, cracking a broad smile.