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As Byrum Brown led Rolesville (N.C.) High School to the state championship game through a record-breaking senior year, Power Five schools weren’t calling. He talked with North Carolina, NC State and Wake Forest, but nothing stuck. Rolesville head coach Rainer Rackley said schools weren’t sure Brown could throw downfield, projecting him more as a run-first quarterback.

But South Florida continued to call during the recruiting process. Through a connection with Brown’s high school wide receivers coach, Malik Frazier, USF quality control coach Sawyer Jordan became aware of Brown.

When Brown took an unofficial visit to USF in 2022, he said it felt genuine. They showed him around Tampa, Florida, and had him pass to some graduate assistants. After one 20-yard out route that Brown zipped in, former head coach Jeff Scott offered Brown on the spot.

A few weeks later, Brown took an official visit with his mother. They went to Ocean Prime, a seafood restaurant where Brown indulged in a spread of shellfish, crabs, shrimp, lobster and oysters. He was sold.

“I knew I just needed an opportunity,” Brown said. “My parents said ‘Whatever school gives you the opportunity, just go out there and make every other school in the country wish they offered you.’”

Two years later at 19, he’s already broken USF’s program record for most single-season passing yards, joining Heisman winning quarterback Jayden Daniels as the only other quarterback in the country with over 3,000 passing yards and 700 rushing yards. Now, Brown will be under center for USF when it takes on Syracuse in the Boca Raton Bowl on Dec. 21.

“The world and the nation may be surprised, but we’re not surprised,” said Rolesville head coach Rainer Rackley. “Now the nation’s seeing the fruits of his labor, and it’s exciting to sit back and watch.”

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Despite being a budding track star and basketball player, Brown gravitated toward football. He was smaller growing up, but his family taught him that opportunities weren’t going to get handed to him. He’d need to work to earn the trust of coaches. The family signed Brown up for football at 6 years old, and “the rest is history,” Drew said.

He continued doing track and field through middle school, eventually winning the national championship in the 1500-meter race. Drew said he and his wife thought Brown would pursue track in high school. But he took on football at Rolesville.

Brown was 5-foot-7 when he entered high school. He played quarterback in youth football, but his size caused him to spend freshman year as Rolesville’s backup quarterback on junior varsity. Rackley said Brown’s talent was apparent, and when Rolesville’s senior quarterback transferred, the staff determined Brown was ready to take over.

Brown helped turn Rolesville around. He led the team, which finished 6-6 the year prior, to a 10-3 record and a run to the second round of the 4AA playoffs. The one-off signs of budding talent became more common, and Rackley allowed Brown to quickly settle in at quarterback.

Rackley was stunned. “There’s no way this is the same kid I saw three years ago,” he recalled thinking. Then Brown hit a growth spurt and his talent soared. During the six months school was shut down due to COVID-19, Brown grew from 5-foot-8 to 6-foot-2.

“He had over 3,000 yards passing, over 1,000 yards rushing in one season here,” Rackley said. “It’s evident that he’s always been able to do that. It was just the timing of him having the opportunity to do that.”

Drew said Brown started a strict diet and worked out seven days a week. Brown drank a protein shake after every workout, ate vegetables with every meal and a steak — cooked medium rare — or chicken. And every night, Brown ate two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

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When play returned as COVID-19 restrictions lessened, it was clear to Rackley that Brown “was peeking at the right moment.” He gained statewide recognition, and his confidence increased. Brown lifted four days a week, speed trained three days a week and threw five days a week when his junior season started.

In Brown’s first conference game of the year, one play proved he was a clearcut college football player. Brown was scrambling out of the pocket and was one-on-one with a defender. He planted his foot, juked him out and took off for a 50-yard run. From that play on, Drew said, Brown knew he was the best player on the field.

“He’d tell his offensive linemen ‘don’t hold. If you can’t get them, I’ll get away,’” Drew said.

Brown was finally seeing the fruits of his labor, Drew said, and continued working to improve. He received his first Division I offers from Appalachian State and Miami (OH) before South Florida called too.

Then another challenge came. Within three weeks of signing day, USF offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., who helped recruit Brown, left to take the same job at Ole Miss. A year later, Scott was fired after going 1-11. But Brown said he’s loyal, and there was never a conversation about transferring.

When Alex Golesh was hired as the new head coach, he told Brown that he’d have a chance to compete for the starting job. The “organized two-minute drill” offense was something that suited Brown. When he won the starting job in fall camp prior to this season, he immediately called his parents. Together, they celebrated the joy of Brown’s bet on himself to stay paying off. What followed was a five-win improvement from the previous year and a bowl berth.

Brown wants to enjoy a long career in the NFL one day, then return to school and become an orthodontist. He said he wants to experience the joy of leaving someone’s teeth better than they were. Like at Rolesville and USF, he wants to leave something better than when he found it.

“It feels great to be the foundation. 6-6 is not our ceiling. We’re eager to play this bowl game and get back in and turn this thing around fully,” Brown said.

Published on December 13, 2023 at 10:31 pm

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt