By: Sean Cartell
Every young player who enters the UTSA football program hopes to make their mark early. Undoubtedly there have been very few who have made such an impact – literally and physically – as Brandon Brown.
At a spring 2021 practice, the Roadrunners were going through THUD drills, meaning that players were not to be taken to the ground on tackles. Brown, who had recently transferred from Tulane, had other ideas.
What he didn’t realize is that he was matched up against Sincere McCormick, the reigning MVP of the Conference USA Championship Game, who now plays for the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders.
“I didn’t really see it was him,” Brown said. “I was running with the twos at the time and I thought that it was a different running back over there. They ended up running inside zone. I hit Sincere McCormick pretty hard and gator rolled him to the ground. I wasn’t expecting to go to the ground. But in the midst of the moment and me not even thinking that this was Sincere back there when it happened, I was already in the mode to prove myself.”
Jeff Traylor, entering his third season as UTSA’s head coach, stopped practice, called the team together and called out Brown for his mistake.
“Since then, it’s been a great relationship,” Brown said. “He’s called me THUD because I basically did something that I wasn’t supposed to do in THUD mode. Ever since then, everybody kind of goes with it that I’m THUD.”
Brown quickly earned the respect of McCormick, with whom he has maintained a friendship.
“He said he’d never been hit like that before in a practice,” Brown said. “If it was a game, it would have been a clean hit. I was just happy that he wasn’t injured. He got right back up. He told me that was what he needed even though Coach didn’t really want anyone hitting him like that in a practice.”
For Brown, who saw action in only one game his freshman season at Tulane, the hit on McCormick was just the boost he needed to help propel his UTSA career.
“I thought ‘Maybe I actually could do something here,’” Brown said. “I was fresh off a transfer from Tulane and that just gave me confidence.”
Brown, who graduated from Morton Ranch High School in Katy, Texas, grew up in New Orleans and the decision to attend Tulane was largely family based. But UTSA had always been on his radar and the move to become a Roadrunner came easily.
“All my people are in New Orleans and Tulane is two blocks away from where my mom stayed,” Brown said. “All of that played a part in me going to Tulane first. When I made my decision to transfer, I probably only spent 15 hours in the transfer portal. It’s the best move I ever made.”
Rod Wright, now the defensive line coach for the Houston Texans, was co-defensive coordinator on UTSA’s staff at the time and had already built a great relationship with Brown. It took less than a day for Brown to tell Wright he was all in.
Getting off to a strong start at UTSA was important for Brown. It was something he was committed to doing before he ever set foot in San Antonio.
“I knew I had to come here even stronger than I was before,” he said. “It was the mindset for me. As soon as I got here, I knew what I had to do and I just handled business. The coaching staff, the team, the culture – you can’t get the situation we have here at any other school. And you can ask any guy that’s here.”
What began as an auspicious start at a spring practice has turned into a highly successful career. Brown has started the last 28 games for the Roadrunners at nose guard and has earned All-Conference honors in each of the last three seasons. He’s poised for even more accomplishments this season and was voted by his teammates to wear No. 2 as part of the coveted 2-1-0 single-digit uniform numbers.
“I’m extremely proud of myself,” Brown said. “To accomplish conference championships and get the first bowl game win for the program, that has been amazing. I’m more of a humble and cerebral person. I don’t want to be too high or too low. I just want to stay right where I need to be and everything will work itself out.”
-UTSA-