Oct. 12, 2005
By Greg Knowlden
Assistant Sports Information Director
Andrew Brown was already 19 years old, and halfway to his 20th birthday, when he enrolled at Lafayette as a freshman in the fall of 2002. Three years later, it's clear that he has made the most of his time as a Leopard.
A product of the Canadian secondary school system, Brown came to Lafayette from Windsor, Ontario, just across the Ambassador Bridge from Detroit, Michigan. He matriculated at W.F. Herman High School, where he excelled in football, basketball and track and field. He is also the only player on this year's football roster who lists accomplishments from 1996 in the 2005 media guide.
"The guys that Drew throws with always joke with him that it isn't fair, that he has `old man' strength," says Michele Curcio, Lafayette's assistant track and field coach who works with the throwers. "I guess it's true since he does have a couple years on the rest of them."
Head football coach Frank Tavani recruited Brown to Lafayette, where he will be a four-year letter winner on the gridiron at defensive end and linebacker. He has also recorded top-10 distances in both the shot put and the discus as a member of the track and field team.
Throw in his heavy slate of extra-curricular activities, and Brown has forged a very successful tenure at Lafayette.
He is president of three campus organizations - Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Sports Marketing Club and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee - serves as head chair for the Senior Class Annual Fund, and is active in both the Brothers of Lafayette and Association of Black Collegians.
Brown also found time to land a summer internship in New York City, where he lived with teammates Maurice Bennett and Joe Ort and worked at New England Financial, a branch of MetLife. Lafayette alum Victor Goldman helped Brown arrange for his position working in investments and insurance, which led to a job offer.
"I'm considering it," Brown said. "But that's only if football doesn't present itself as an option once I'm done playing here. I'd like to go to law school and play in the CFL (Canadian Football League)."
While playing professionally on his home turf may be in Brown's future, he has more than enough to keep him occupied during his senior year. Since the average day may include a half-dozen or more obligations, he has developed time management skills since making the decision to join the track and field team as a sophomore.
"Drew had talked about doing both in college, but it's very difficult since there is really no off-season in either sport," Tavani said. "However, he's in a particular event where the strength training is very similar so he doesn't miss any of our spring workouts, and while football is still his first priority, he has managed to take advantage of an opportunity that was made available to him."
The proximity of the practice football field to the throwing area at the Metzgar Fields Athletic Complex is beneficial for Brown.
"In the spring, Drew will come over and throw with us before he goes to football practice," Curcio said. "Once, he ran over wearing his pads and football pants and I didn't think he realized what he was doing. But he said, `Coach, I have to get some throws in'."
Brown hadn't thrown the shot put in four years when he walked onto the track team, and had never thrown the discus. Within two years, he has made the finals of the Patriot League championships in both events. Curcio is looking forward to having Brown for the entire spring once his collegiate football career is over.
"Drew is quick and explosive, and his technique continues to get better," she explained. "He has gone from 40 to 47 feet in the shot, and is already at 135 feet in the discus. He has the potential to get to 150, which would have placed third in the league last year. Drew has the desire to do very well and brings an intensity and athleticism that is a real asset to our team."
On the football field, Brown started all 12 games in Lafayette's Patriot League championship season a year ago. He led the defensive linemen with 61 tackles, created seven turnovers (two interceptions, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries), and scored two touchdowns.
Those credentials led I-AA.org to name Brown a second-team All-Patriot League selection heading into his senior season. He is fifth on the team with 28 tackles through the first five games and a key member of a defense that ranks sixth in the nation in opponents' scoring average.
"We're primarily a zone blitz team, and Drew's athleticism allows us to play him as a defensive end and then drop into coverage as a linebacker," Tavani said.
While he's taking on double teams from run blockers this fall, Brown found himself grappling with larger, more inanimate objects over the summer.
"When I moved to New York, I was looking for a place to train," Brown explained. "I called DeFranco's Training Center in New Jersey when I found out that they had strongman events every weekend, and went down there each Saturday for four weeks."
The summer culminated in a five-event competition, where Brown placed second, by one point, to a full-scholarship tight end from Rutgers.
Brown won the day's final event, the single-man sled pull. He also recorded top-five finishes in the keg toss, tire flip and Conan's Wheel against a field of 20 athletes.
"At the end of the day, my legs were just done," Brown said. "They held it on a turf field and it had to be 95 degrees out there, but I just couldn't move."
But when the 23-year-old is lining up against, and alongside, the rest of the Patriot League in his final season, he'll look at that experience fondly.
"I'm focused on winning a Patriot League championship," Brown said.
His coaches certainly agree.
