Troy University Athletics
Gameday Feature: Levi Brown
9/19/2009 5:00:00 AM | Football
BROWN DELIVERS
by Travis Jarome
He is the starting quarterback for the three-time defending Sun Belt Conference champion Troy Trojans, but senior Levi Brown will tell you there are more pressing things going on this world than college football.
Does he want to win every game he plays? Of course, but he also realizes he is able to do something others have not been blessed to do in their lifetime. And for that he pushes on, trying to pursue a career that will enable him to give back to the world that has given so much to him.
A native of Mt. Juliet, Tenn., a suburb of Nashville with a population of more than 25,000, Brown is passionate about everything he does; be it the game of football or the troubles in Africa.
“To be able to go Africa would mean a lot,” Brown said. “It is something that is definitely on my list of things to do sometime in my life - travel to Africa to help some of the organizations which help children that have been affected by their parents dying and all the wars over there. There is genocide going on in Darfur, and AIDS obviously is just wiping out the population, and starvation.”
The wars in Africa and the orphans in Darfur have been on the news, but Brown has taken the next step. The senior has researched the area, and written papers on the situation occurring in those Third World countries.
“I have done a lot of reading on it,” he said. “I've read three or four books and written three or four papers for school about Darfur and the stuff going in Uganda. People read about it, but they don't know that it is as bad as it really is. They don't know about the children dying, losing their parents and women getting raped just because they go out and look for firewood. But I don't think it really hits home with everybody as much as I would like it to.
“With all the research I've done and as much as I have looked into it, it has really hit a nerve with me. It is unbelievable what the people over there go through, and it is stuff that we in America can't even fathom. And when you do think about it, it is like 'oh that is terrible' but at the same time you think it is terrible but you don't do anything about it. I have made it a point in my life to make a difference, to bring awareness to the fact that it is going on. I wear t-shirts around that support those causes.”
Brown wears a bracelet on his right wrist he received from Uganda. It is a simple reminder of what goes on in Africa, and the situation he wants to help better no matter if he is a star or your everyday normal person walking the street. Since he received the bracelet, it has not left his wrist.
“It has been on my wrist since I got it a year and half ago,” Brown said. “It hasn't come off, I even wear it during football games. That is probably the thing in my life that I am most passionate about right now; even more so than football. That is something that I care about and is something I try to help out as much as I can.”
Although he wants to help out, and has in the past, he still has his long-term goals in mind of making it to the National Football League. But the reason may shock some when it comes to an athlete wanting to sign a professional contract.
“My goal right now is to make it to the NFL, and it would be tough to just give up football at this point,” Brown said of giving up football to partake in his passion. “Part of the reason I want to make it to the NFL is so I can have enough money to do a lot more stuff, and donate more. Right now I can donate 20 bucks at a time.
“It helps, it does a lot more in Africa where you can get more stuff for 20 dollars than you can here. At the same time, my plan right now is to focus on football and make it to the NFL to make enough money to where I can go over there in the off-season and donate thousands of dollars rather than 10s of dollars. If someone were to approach me right now with two weeks left in the season, I would probably have to say no, keeping the long-term goals in mind.”
That dream of the NFL continues to be a dream for Brown, and it starts this season - his last at Troy.
Although Brown is passionate about the situation in Africa, he is also passionate about what he has to do every week he dons the uniform of the Troy Trojans. And that situation almost didn't happen, unbeknownst to the Trojan nation.
Brown was told about the 2006 New Orleans Bowl prior to the game by former offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, but almost forgot the game was on television that Friday night.
“Coach [Franklin] actually called me before the bowl game and told me to watch it,” Brown said. “I had forgotten about it, it totally slipped my mind. Me and my dad were sitting in the living room trying to find something to watch. We were flipping through the channels and happen to see it on, so we started watching it.”
The one thing that stuck out in Brown's mind was the fact that Omar Haugabook was throwing the ball all over the field for the Trojans that night.
“Obviously that was a good game for Troy,” he said. “We were impressed by the win, and Omar was throwing the ball all over the place. I obviously loved that fact since I am a quarterback. Me and my dad were sitting there watching that and I think that became the swinging point of me coming here. That is what really got us interested in Troy.”
However, things were not as easy as Brown thought they were going to be when he arrived at Troy. After being benched at Richmond, an FCS school, Brown found himself sitting out a year and then found himself sitting behind Jamie Hampton.
“I had a lot of bad moments in college football,” he said. “Going into my sophomore year at Richmond they named someone else the starter over me. Then I got here and Jamie was named the starter over me the year I was eligible again. The worst moment of all is when Jamie got hurt, and I thought I was the guy that was going to go the rest of the year, but I didn't go in.”
Although he found himself sitting behind Hampton, there were no hard feelings between the two as the duo are roommates off the field.
“Me and Jamie live together,” Brown said. “We are best friends. Someone says it is crazy to see me and Jamie fighting for the same position on the field, and then see us off the field. We want to win together and I think it is a really unique situation we have. I am glad we have that relationship. He would do anything for me, and I would do the same for him. Although it was a competition on the field, we saw we were good people and were able to move past that moment.”
Levi has been able to find his niche as the starting quarterback for the Trojans. He set a school record for attempts against LSU, nearly threw for 400 yards at North Texas, threw only three interceptions during the season and led the Trojans to the New Orleans Bowl.
Although he has achieved all the accolades on the field, Brown still loves to be a people person. Whether it be through Twitter, Facebook or just walking around campus, Brown leaves his mark.
“I think it is good to be able to have some fun,” he said. “Coach [Neal] Brown gets mad at me when we are watching film and I start laughing. I don't think it is good to be serious all the time and be uptight, I just think it is good to be relaxed.”
Not only has he shown his personality on the field and around campus, he has now shown it all over the world courtesy of YouTube and offensive lineman, Micah Grimes.
Brown can be seen in a promotional video filmed by his lineman for today's game against UAB playing video games with senior defensive back Jorrick Calvin. The video starts with him jumping up and down in Jorrick's face, and taunting the defensive back.
“I am pretty laid back,” Brown said. “That was the very first one we shot, and it was awkward because no one really knew what were supposed to be doing. The very first scene is me jumping up and down in Jorrick's face, and acting like an idiot. It was a little awkward and I had fun doing it.”
Past the video games and the attitude that Brown exudes when he walks around campus, he has already left his mark in Troy and New Orleans for his community service.
“For me it is more important than football,” Brown said. “I know I will be fine whether I am playing football or not. I am really blessed, and I know that. I have a great family that supports me no matter what I am doing, whether I am playing football or not. I really like to help out people who aren't as blessed as I am, or don't have the opportunities that I do. If I had to choose one thing, and the choice was between playing football or don't help anyone out ever again; or you can do all these things to help people out, but you can't play football - I would definitely choose not playing football again. It is that important to me, it is not even a comparison.”
Brown is a very philosophical person and relies on music to get him through the day.
“People are going to think I am weird but I love music,” he said. “I cannot play an instrument or sing so I just like to listen to it. I will turn the lights off in my room and put some music on to help set the mood. It helps me relax and plan things out. Then, there are times where I like to just rock out to some of it as well.”
However, if stranded on a remote island, he is well aware of the fact that he couldn't choose an I-Pod if he could have one thing because he would have no way to charge it.
“Megan Fox would be a great choice,” he said. “I would definitely want a boat so I could get off. If I could have one thing, I would say I would have to want The Bible. If you are stranded on an island with no boat, you are probably not going to make it very long. I would do a lot of studying in that and be close to God when my time came on that island. We have been doing a lot of Bible studies with my roommates, and I have really gotten into the that. The religious and spiritual aspect of life is very important to me as well.”
The thoughts and beliefs that Brown has did not come over night. The idea of helping out the community, assisting with the situation in Africa and his personality in general have been built brick by brick since his youth. And that thought starts with family, a staple of Levi's life to this point.
“I can't even describe it,” Brown said. “I feel like I have the best parents in the world, they have been to every single game that I have ever played. My grandparents even come to most of them. When I played at Richmond, we played all over the Northeast, my parents were on planes and coming to see me all over the place; and this is when I wasn't even playing and I was the back-up. It is unbelievable what my parents have done for me, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be where I am. Every aspect of my life would be there for me.”
