‘He’s going to be a monster.’ Moss Point star reels in offers, and his stock is rising
He hasn’t finished his sophomore year at Moss Point High School, but Jamarious Brown looks more and more like a college defensive lineman every day.
He checks in at 6-foot-3, 250 pounds, and his head coach, Eugene Harmon, believes he’ll tower even more over his classmates by the time he graduates.
“I could see him growing a couple inches, gaining some more weight,” Harmon told the Sun Herald recently. “It’s amazing how much he’s grown in four months. He finished the season at 6-2, 215. When he got here in January, we had a real good offseason program. Just to watch him to go from 220 to 250 has been kind of amazing to watch. You’re seeing it slowly happen.
“By the time he’s finished his senior year, he’ll be 275-280 and right around 6-5. He’s going to be a monster once he graduates.”
Even as a slightly smaller linebacker during his sophomore campaign, Brown began to grab the interest of some of the region’s top college football programs. Florida State became the first Football Bowl Subdivision program to offer Brown in October, with FSU defensive back Marcus Woodson, a product of Moss Point, doing the honors.
Ole Miss followed about a week later. Mississippi State, Arizona State and Florida have added offers over the past three months.
Although Brown has settled nicely into his role of top prospect, he was taken aback when programs like Florida State and Ole Miss started reaching out.
“I never thought I’d even be a D-I player,” Brown said. “It’s hard to explain. I never thought I’d be this big. I always dreamed of it, but I never knew it would come to a reality.”
Alhtough it seems like players announce their oral commitments at a younger and younger age, Brown is determined to take his time before he latches himself to a college.
“I’m just waiting to see. I really appreciate the coaches that offered me,” he said. “I’m going to wait until the end of my senior year.”
Jamarious Brown hoping for an LSU offer
There is one school that has a shot to jump to the top of the pack, but he hasn’t heard from the staff yet.
“I’ve always been an LSU fan. That’s my dream school,” Brown said. “I’ve never talked to them, but I look forward to talking to them.”
Brown plans to attend camps this summer at Florida State and Oregon, but he’s holding out hope that he also makes it to Baton Rouge.
Brown was a key piece on a talented 2020 Moss Point squad that won the Region 8-4A title, but much of the recruiting attention was on receiver Larry Simmons, an Ole Miss commit, and All-South Mississippi QB Ruben Lee.
It wasn’t until a breakout 11-tackle performance in a 56-50 victory over Stone High that college coaches began to start asking about Brown.
“We won that game without six starters,” Harmon said. “He came down on the kickoff, had a big hit on the kickoff and caused a fumble, which we recovered. That was probably the turning point. We were down at that point.
“Then, he had a big hit on the running back. You could almost see his stock go up. He just put on a show that night.”
Moss Point star sharpens his game
Brown played outside linebacker as a sophomore and led the team with 77 tackles, but Harmon and his staff realized they needed to change his position once he began to bulk up.
Now, the goal for the staff is to make sure the 16-year-old has all the intangibles to succeed at a new position.
“It’s just working on his first step off the ball,” Harmon said. “That’s one thing we’ve been working on him with him this offseason.”
Brown should be part of one of the Coast’s best defensive lines this season with senior Dashawn Graham (6-3, 245) lined up at the other end and 6-1, 290-pound Earnest Jackson clogging up the middle at nose tackle.
“We’re going to be pretty dominant this season,” Brown said.
Brown isn’t the type of defensive end that will light it up in the 40-yard dash, but his athleticism and length will allow him to cover plenty of ground on his side of the field.
“He’s just so long,” Harmon said. “There’s not too many teams that ran to his side. Even when they run to his side, they try to outrun him to the sideline. He’s so long they couldn’t do it.”
While there’s plenty of work ahead for Brown to achieve his goal of playing college football on the highest level, Harmon believes the potential is there for the sophomore to become one of the best linemen to come out of tradition-rich Moss Point.
“What jumps out to me is his desire to get to the football,” Harmon said. “He has great length and great arm span that keeps blockers off him. He’s a very patient, smart football player.
“He eats up everything that’s taught to him. Once we showed him a couple of moves, he applied it to his game. Just his overall depth of knowledge at his age is what stands out the most.”
