Brown signs with NCCU
Mar. 2—LAURINBURG — Scotland High School senior Jahari Brown signed his national letter of intent to North Carolina Central University Thursday afternoon at Scotland High School.
Brown, who was a defensive back for the Scots football team, played three years on varsity under head coach Richard Bailey and made the all-Sandhills Athletic Conference team in each of those seasons.
Bailey said he's excited for Brown and his future, and believes he is an example of how all players should represent themselves.
"I'm just really happy for Jahari; he's worked really, really hard," Bailey said. "He's been just a tremendous person in our program. (He's a) leader (and) was chosen as a captain this year of the football team. Me, personally, he's one of my favorite players I've ever coached just because of how he practices (and) how he plays. He's a tremendous young man; he's one of those ones that you kind of wish all are kids were like. We're extremely proud of him."
Throughout his 26 total games played in high school, Brown recorded 100 total tackles (44 solo), five tackles for loss, four interceptions, three fumble recoveries, and one forced fumble.
Brown said "hard work and dedication" has made him into the player he is today.
"(It's) not everyday you get to play football," Brown said. "Taking that into my head, I knew I wanted to play football at the next level and I knew what it took. You've gotta fall in love with the sport that you wanna do in your life, and that's what I did; I just perfected my craft everyday."
With Brown attending North Carolina Central in the near future, he'll join the likes of Scotland football alumni Manny Smith and Karfa Kaba, who both are currently on the North Carolina Central football team, and Tony McRae, who is North Carolina Central's cornerbacks coach.
While Brown had several reasons for choosing North Carolina Central, he said one of them was because of McRae, who coached cornerbacks at Scotland before leaving for North Carolina Central.
"It's a pretty good program," Brown said of North Carolina Central. "Tony McRae, he was here (at Scotland) before and he was coaching me, and I liked the way he coached. I liked that they (North Carolina Central) admired me; it's a good environment (and an) HBCU. (North Carolina Central's) coaches; they kept in contact with me. They just showed me love and I liked that."
With Brown signing with North Carolina Central, he becomes the sixth Fighting Scot to sign to a college football program this recruiting cycle.
On Feb. 1, offensive lineman Amari Chance and wide receiver Cadyn Graves both signed to the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, defensive lineman Ricky Swindell III signed with Johnson C. Smith University, and defensive lineman Terrence Rothwell inked his national letter of intent to Ferrum College; while on Feb. 9, defensive lineman Joshua Bostic signed with Fayetteville State University.
