Any football fan knows Jerry Rice’s story. The future Hall of Famer played Division I-AA football in college before becoming one of the NFL’s best receivers.

Kurt Warner, too, was stuck in the ranks of the Arena Football League before leading the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl in 1999.

Players go unnoticed in sports. They stay under the radar screen. They burst onto the scene a bit later than most.

Sure, Stacey Brown is just a high school senior, but the last recruit of the Syracuse football team’s 32-man recruiting class hopes to make just as big a name for himself as other hidden talents.

Brown starred at University Christian High School in Jacksonville, Fla. He was first team All-State Class A for his phenomenal senior year. The cornerback, however, was not on anybody’s wish list. Ironically, a playoff loss won him a spot on Syracuse’s roster.

In his final high school game, University Christian lost at the hands of Tallahassee North Florida Christian. Brown’s 220 rushing yards – he played running back in high school, too – 24 solo tackles, and 78-yard touchdown reception off a screen pass were just short of single-handedly beating opposing coach Tim Cokely.

But they were just enough to make Cokely pick up the telephone. SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni and wide receivers coach Dennis Goldman were in Tallahassee, Fla., at the time, and quickly responded to Cokely’s high praises. A 7 a.m. meeting with University Christian coach David King did the trick.

‘Both sides fell in love with each,’ King said. ‘It was easy after that.’

Pasqualoni offered Brown a scholarship on the spot, salvaging what could have been a horrible miss for such a talent.

‘I was puzzled by it,’ King said. ‘I’ve been a coach for 19 years. I’ve coached NFL players, and Stacy is one of the finest I’ve been around. I don’t think the prior coaches here did a good job of selling the kids to schools. Stacy just slipped through the cracks.’

Brown will be part of Todd Littlejohn’s defensive backs unit, a player with traits similar to that of his state.

‘Florida is a hard-nosed state,’ Brown said. ‘It’s an aggressive state. College is a big step, and it’s going to be hard, but I think I can adjust.’

Brown will most likely be a grayshirt – someone who waits after high school graduation to enter college – if he doesn’t graduate in June. If that’s the case, Brown will enroll in January.

Brown will bring a lot of things to the table when he puts on an Orangemen helmet.

‘Syracuse has a tremendous program,’ King said. ‘Stacy is a tremendous athlete. He might not make a big impact freshman year but definitely sophomore year.’

‘I can do a little of everything,’ Brown said. ‘I’m athletic and can do a lot. I was a hard-hitter in high school, but college is another level.’

If King’s assessments hold true, though, Brown is ready for that next level.

‘He reminds me of Deion Sanders,’ King said. ‘But Stacy is a lot more physical.’

The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder is the only SU recruit from the country’s recruiting hotbeds of Florida and Texas. But geography does not always guarantee supremacy.

‘Football is football,’ Brown said. ‘There’s good competition everywhere.

‘If everyone comes and plays hard,’ Brown said, ‘we can be just as good as anyone.’

The Atlantic Coast Conference, which plucked Miami from the Big East in the fall, will see to it that Brown does not get a return to the warm, sunny confines of his home state. That makes Brown only one of 32 rookies Pasqualoni will introduce to cold-weather endurance. And as he does, Brown will sit in the Carrier Dome, getting wired up with his Lil’ Wayne CD, hoping for his shot to show his hard-nosed style. He’ll prove it comes with all Florida football players, whether or not they were on the recruiting radar from the start.

Published on February 17, 2004 at 12:00 pm