Up Close & Personal: Journey Brown's path to Penn State

When you’re Pennsylvania’s fastest sprinter and hold the state record for most rushing yards in a high school football game, you become used to doing things with speed.

That’s how it is for Journey Brown, who has one of the best 40-yard dash times among all of Penn State’s signees in 2017. When it came to his recruitment, however, that was anything but quick.

Brown, who is from Meadville, broke onto the scene in September 2015 when he rushed for 722 yards and 10 touchdowns against DuBois. “It was a crazy game,” he recalled. It was also Pennsylvania’s single greatest high school rushing total, and it caught the nation’s attention.

“It got Journey Brown out there where people noticed him,” Meadville coach Ray Collins said. “He’s got kind of a catchy name, and people are waking up the morning after that game and they’re reading about a kid named Journey Brown.”

Brown’s spectacular performance made headlines not only in the local newspapers, but in USA Today, Newsweek and ESPN. Brown and Collins fielded plenty of calls from reporters.

But they did not immediately hear from college coaches.

It was months later when a Football Bowl Subdivision program finally reached out to them. That program was Temple. The Owls already had a Meadville graduate on their roster – defensive back Artrel Foster – and once they offered a scholarship, Brown seemed destined to follow in his footsteps.

He didn’t give a verbal commitment right away, holding out for the possibility of other offers, but even after rushing for 2,791 yards as a senior, Temple remained his best choice. As signing day approached, Brown was set to let the Owl coaches know that he planned on signing with them.

“Penn State was my No. 1 choice out of the whole thing, but they didn’t have a scholarship for me,” he said. “So Temple was looking good then. We were going to go down that Friday, then I got a call from Coach Franklin.”

The phone call had been long awaited.

Brown’s relationship with James Franklin and his coaching staff dated back to the summer before his senior season. Collins had been in sporadic communication with Joe Moorhead, who at the time was preparing for his first season as the Lions’ offensive coordinator. Moorhead said he wanted to see Brown at camp. Brown accepted the invitation, and when he got to Penn State he put on another show.

“Coach Franklin timed [the 40-yard dash] himself, and he ran a 4.4,” Collins said. “Instantly, you could see the excitement that was generated by that run.”

Penn State’s coaches kept a close eye on the 5-foot-11, 194-pound Brown throughout the day, and before leaving he and Collins were called into Franklin’s office. In similar situations, that’s when prospects are offered a scholarship.

But not Brown, not on that day.

“Everybody in the room knew that he still had a lot to prove academically yet,” Collins said. “That’s what I respect about [Franklin]. He is very honest and he tells you the way it is. He told Journey, I’m not going to make you an offer today. We’ll talk down the road, but I want to see how you do academically. He dangled the carrot out there in front of Journey’s nose and basically said, if you want this you’re going to have to work for it.”

Brown took heed. He knew he had to play catch-up, and that wasn’t something he was used to doing.

During the next school year he reversed course. He met with guidance counselors who reviewed his transcripts and then aligned his class schedule so that he could satisfy the classroom requirements. Teachers spent extra time with him on an academic plan, and his coaches called and texted frequently to keep him on track. “It was like everybody got on team Journey Brown,” Collins said. “Everybody had a role to play.”

It eventually succeeded. Franklin called in January with the news that Penn State would be extending an offer. Signing day was less than one month away, and Brown had been getting ready to head to Temple for an official visit.

Franklin had previously presented the opportunity of a grayshirt, meaning that Brown would defer his enrollment to PSU until January 2018 while he continued to get his coursework in order. He wasn’t interested. “I didn’t want to grayshirt at all,” Brown said. “I pretty much implied I was going to Temple.”

Franklin’s offer was for a full ride beginning this summer with the other signees. The work he had put in paid off.

Brown saw his efforts rewarded in a similar manner at the indoor track and field state championships in late February at PSU’s Multisport Facility. After winning the outdoor 100-meter crown last spring, Brown had hoped to double up with an indoor sprinting title. But he knew that his previous times would be a few hundredths of a second too slow to claim the title.

So he spent the week leading up to the state meet working closely with his track coaches in a controlled workout program focused on starting out of the blocks as abruptly as possible.

“It’s an important part, because if you don’t get off the blocks fast, you’re not catching up,” Brown said.

It’s not what he likes doing, so when the time came to run the 60-meter state championship, he was ready.

Brown turned in the state tournament’s best time with a run of 6.80 seconds, which ranks 10th nationally. In doing so, he tied the state record, set previously by former Penn State wide receiver Alex Kenney. Had it not been for the effort that Brown put in during the week leading up to the race, he wouldn’t have yet another state record under his belt.

“I was comfortable the whole time because I knew my speed will take over on the straight aways,” he said.“It felt good to be able to come out of the blocks so powerful.”

As he’s learned, hard work pays off.