Penn State Football: No Shortage of Praise for Brown in Secondary

The statement “he’s a football player” comes with all sorts of cliches and eye-rolling thoughts that harken back to the days of tough guys and meatheads. It is equal parts a compliment and an antiquated evaluation.

But it’s hard to find a better way to describe Penn State safety Ji’Ayir Brown.

To be sure sure, Brown doesn’t fit the bill when it comes to all of the negative connotations of “being a football player.” Brown isn’t a meathead; he isn’t a brainless tough guy, but man does he love football and football certainly has loved him back.

“If you want a guy, as a coach, that you’re honored to coach, it’s this guy,” Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz said earlier this spring. “He just does everything the way you want to do it. If you had a 11 of [him] you wouldn’t need to coach.”

Fittingly, Diaz says all of this as Brown walks right behind him, both shoulders wrapped in ice, headed from one building to the next as the recovery from the day’s practice unfolds. Brown is quiet, unaware that his coach is talking about him, continuing on behind the media scrum as Diaz pours on the praise.

For Penn State, the Nittany Lions will need another strong – and healthy – season from Brown as he looks to steady a defensive unit that is filling gaps at every level. The loss of safety Jaquan Brisker to the NFL was always in the cards, but now Brown will look to lead a coverage group that was among the best in the nation in 2021 and do that again with some new faces in 2022.

As for Brown himself, a return for a third season at Penn State could prove to do the same for him as it did his once Lackawana Community College counterpart in Brisker – the shift from being a great safety to becoming an elite one.

Of course the argument could be made already that Brown currently is elite. Last season Brown racked up nine pass deflections while pulling down six interceptions to go with his 61 solo tackles. It’s not as though Brown has much to prove to anyone, but another season of high end safety play could push his stock even higher up the draft board.

“He’s been doing a great job of being a leader,” corner Daequan Hardy said on Tuesday. “Just keeping an eye on the whole defensive line and also just making plays. That comes with being a leader. He’s been doing an awesome job job this spring.”

Plays – big ones – will be key for Penn State this fall as the Nittany Lions look to rebound on offense and continue to find success on defense. Penn State leaned on two interceptions by Brown in the Outback Bowl to stay in that game and the same sort of play during the regular season could help backstop an offense that will look to finally get a ground game going and find an answer in a passing attack that will be without longtime receiver Jahan Dotson.

And those sorts of plays can change games, or rather during this time of year, practice sessions.

“Just last practice, during he two minute drill and [Brown] made a great play on the ball at the end of the drill to get the defense the win,” Hardy recalled.

So what can Brown do for you? Plenty it would seem.