UNC recruit, Southern Durham senior Jordon Brown hoping for another moment

Football captivated Jordon Brown from an early age. No other sport matched the joy of scoring a touchdown. He should know.

As a sophomore, the Southern Durham senior all-purpose back pulled off the TD every kid dreams of. Brown’s championship game-winning score in the final moments lifted Southern Durham to a 38-31 win over Crest in the 2013 N.C. High School Athletic Association 3AA final at BB&T Stadium in Winston-Salem.

“It was a great feeling,” Brown said of the 80-yard catch-and-run with 1:08 remaining. “Before the play they told me the ball might come my way. I was prepared. I caught the ball and ran for my life.”

Brown can play the rest of his career and not match that moment, and he appears to have plenty of football in front of him.

First, there is the remainder of his senior year with the 5-2 Spartans.

Then he’s off to North Carolina.

He committed on Aug. 16 as a Rivals.com 4-star prospect ranked the No. 5 all-purpose back in the nation and No. 11 recruit in the state. His three finalists were the Tar Heels, Wake Forest and South Carolina.

“North Carolina loves everything about him,” Southern Durham coach Darius Robinson said. “He’s a complete player on the field and a complete person off it. He can run between the tackles, line up in the slot, play a little wide receiver and he can block. He has personality, character and is a great student. He is the total package.”

North Carolina’s recruiting pitch included comparing him to former Tar Heels back Giovani Bernard, who is in his third season with the Cincinnati Bengals. An NFL opportunity is a long way off. But the manner Brown, who has a 4.3 grade-point average, handled the recruiting process shows he has a big-picture vision that includes more than NFL dreams. He chose North Carolina for the computer science and information systems he wanted.

Wake Forest was more difficult to turn down than South Carolina. That’s where his good friend Kendall Hinton is already established as a true freshman quarterback this season. Hinton, also a strong student, threw the state title TD pass to him.

“I’ve been to Wake Forest a few times and stayed with him,” Brown said. “It was a hard decision, but I had to make the best decision for me.”

Robinson saw the physical maturity in Brown when he brought him up to the varsity as a sophomore. Now he sees emotional maturity.

“His sense of leadership has improved,” Robinson said. “We had a breakdown in team leadership this year. Jordon has gone to the players and explained to them we need them to step up and be a leader. He did that behind the scenes.”

Pulling guys aside for a quiet motivational talk rather than shouting is something he learned from Hinton.

“We kind of do things the same way,” Brown said. “I’m not a vocal leader. I talk to guys about keeping their heads up. I just try to encourage them.”

Physically, Brown prepared for his senior year by adding weight and running track to maintain his speed. He was a 5-foot-10, 175-pounder last year, but he says he’s up to 190 this season.

“I wanted to get stronger for running between the tackles,” he said. “I feel faster this year. I’m pulling away from people.”

Two big all-purpose nights this season came on a 36-31 win over Cardinal Gibbons and a 36-13 decision over Northern Durham. Against Cardinal Gibbons, he carried 29 times for 230 yards and three touchdowns and caught three balls for 30 yards. Against Northern Durham, he ran 20 times for 100 yards and one TD and caught four passes for 46 yards and a touchdown.

Robinson was busy lining the field for a JV game on a recent afternoon following a full day of school and practice when he stopped to talk about Brown. Then he called over Brown and went back to lining the field.

Brown stood on the track answering questions with teammates and classmates swirling about the football stadium. Asked if he had any final thoughts, he said: “A shoutout to my offensive line.”

This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 11:58 AM with the headline "UNC recruit, Southern Durham senior Jordon Brown hoping for another moment."