ALTON – Anytime a player can get to the next level of the sport he or she is playing, it's always a major accomplishment.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
For Alton's Simeon Brown, the opportunity to play college football has come true. Brown signed a letter of intent in a Friday morning ceremony to attend Central Methodist University in Fayette, Mo., located in Howard County, Mo., north of the Columbia-Jefferson City area. Central Methodist is a NAIA school (the small-college NCAA) and a member of the Heart of America Athletic Conference.
“I really enjoyed (playing football at Alton),” Brown said. “The fellowship with my teammates, just being able to hang out and really having that brotherhood; it made it a lot more fun.”
Brown has always enjoyed football, both playing and watching it. “I've always liked it,” Brown said, “especially when I was little. My dad's side of the family really got me into it, like my uncles and my cousins; it was just something I always wanted to do.”
Brown played mostly defensive back for the Redbirds last season; he had 14 tackles last season on defense, but also had three receptions for 36 yards and a touchdown on the offensive side of the ball and returned three kickoffs for 37 yards in the 2015 season for the Redbirds.
Brown will be a defensive back for the Eagles next season and models his game after two of the more prominent defenders in the NFL, Richard Sherman of the Seattle Seahawks and Patrick Peterson of the Arizona Cardinals.
Having a son who will be playing in college made Brown's father, Raynard, very proud; it was, in Raynard Brown's words, “very interesting because I'm not athletic at all. My background is in music; always has been, so the mere fact that he played any kind of sport was kind of shocking. But he's always been good at it; even when he was younger, he would go out and play football and sometimes have imaginary teams and coaches, so it was awesome watching him grow up.”
While Raynard and Ann Brown, Simeon's parents, would go to Redbird games to support him, “people would ask me what position he played,” Raynard Brown said, “and I couldn't remember,” he said with a laugh. “I still don't know the game well enough, but he does. I can see how it's shaped him and formed him and helped him in so many ways.
“At the end of the day, we believe education is really important, so if this one of those tools to help him get that education, then that's always good.”
“First and foremost, I'm there for my education,” Simeon Brown said, “so really just getting through college and preparing myself for the real world, and then, on the football field, just giving everything I can. For me, it's about hard work and dedication and actually playing for the team.
“I know I'm going into pre-medical studies; I want to go into orthopedic surgery, chiropractic or sports medicine. Whatever I go into, I believe Central Methodist will prepare me to really further my education.”
More like this:
