Offensive lineman often toil in anonymity. Walk-on linemen take that to a different level. However, sometimes a teammate comes along who makes a difference.
Will Brown is just such a difference maker. His 4-year journey as a walk-on lineman came first in Coach Anthony Shakir’s defensive line room before shifting a semester later to Coach Kevin Revis’ offensive line group.
He joined the program from Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis. Brown’s worked from day one to contribute in every way he can on and off the field. He’s using this time to contribute to the game he loves while working toward a future in medicine and helping others.
Finding My Place
I didn’t start playing football until seventh grade. It was a bit of a rough start, but by eighth grade, I realized this was something I wanted to do. That was when I really fell in love with playing on the line and being in the trenches.
I’ve never been a big guy on self-accomplishments or self promotion. I’ve always had the mentality of wanting to see everyone do well. That’s how I view everything in life.
I do my best to help the freshmen learn how to do certain things and learn how to make certain blocks because I want them to be the best players they can be. Our whole room’s success comes from how we come together and work for each other.
That’s just the way I view things.
The Move to O-Line
I was a defensive lineman when I got here. Then, three days before spring ball started, I got a message from Coach Shak asking me to come to the office.
I was a walk-on, so I thought this was it, you know? I thought I was going to get cut.
When I walked into his office, he said we had a bunch of offensive linemen leave and quit, so they wanted to move me to the offensive side. Originally, it was just supposed to be for the spring. But I’ve been on the offensive line ever since.
It’s been one of the best things for me. Our O-Line room is like a family. We’re all brothers. We get into little arguments, but we all know it’s just love.
We make fun of each other. We help pick each other up when one is down. I know I’ve been in rough places before while I’ve been here and several of my other linemen have gone through things, but just having a group of people you know you can always go to about anything and be able to talk to them about it is how I would describe our O-line.
It’s a true brotherhood of people picking each other up when you need it.
What Got Him Here & Going Forward
One of the main things that has kept me going is my grandfather, William Jones. He passed away when I was 15 years old, and one of the things that he always taught me is that once you start something, you finish it.
That has been one of my biggest driving factors.
I remember we had a conversation before he passed. He wanted to know what I was planning on doing after high school. I was just a sophomore, so I didn’t know yet, but he said if I went to college, I wasn’t dropping out. I was going to finish and get my degree.
If I decided to play college football, I wasn’t going to quit in the middle of the season. I was going to finish and do all four years of it.
I just never want to let any of my teammates down. On the scout team, I go as hard as I can because I’ve been a part of teams that have been really good here, and I’ve seen what the scouts have to do in order for people to be able to perform on the field.
At our game against Wofford, we saw our D-Line have one of the best performances they’ve had this season. That makes me feel good because I know I prepared them for that look.
Even when you’re not playing or not getting all the reps, it’s the reps I do get that help other people get to a place where they can play and perform.
I’m a pre-health professional major with a minor in biology. Medical school is my next stop. My main goal in life is to be able to help people in any way I can. That’s kind of why I do everything that I do.
My dream is to go into dermatology. I want to do med school through the Army and become an Army doctor. I used to struggle really badly with acne, and I’ve known people who’ve had skin cancers that, if caught earlier, could’ve been solved.
After serving in the military, I want to open a clinic for African-American skin. I want it to serve lower-income areas and help Black men and women learn more about skin care because that is very different compared to other skin types.
I want to take my experiences and be able to apply those to other people. That’s special.
For me, being a Moc means never quitting on yourself, your brothers or your family.
There’s been many times I could have either left or quit, been a normal student or transferred, but every day I’ve decided this is where I want to be because I love everyone in the building. I love the city.
That’s what it means to be a Moc. It’s just never walking out on your people.
