INDIANAPOLIS — As a senior at South Mountain High School in Phoenix, Jalil Brown rushed for 1,910 yards and scored 29 touchdowns.
He was selected to some all-area teams that season on offense and defense. But he believed he would find his place in college football, and perhaps in the NFL, on offense. He would do it taking handoffs, running the ball, scoring touchdowns and winning games.
“I kind of thought that’s what would happen,” said Brown, who played cornerback at Colorado. “I thought I was pretty good with the ball in my hands.”
Brown just completed his four-day trek through the NFL scouting combine as a cornerback with a professional future. He has spent the past few weeks pushing his name up the NFL draft charts.
He had a good week of Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, Ala., in January and followed that with some quality work at the scouting combine, which concluded Tuesday.
Brown credits Greg Brown, CU’s defensive coordinator and secondary coach, for seeing at least a little bit of the future. Greg Brown, a 15-year veteran of NFL coaching staffs, is now in his third stint as a CU assistant coach.
“It was the (defensive backs) coach who recruited me out of high school. He kind of talked me into playing the position of cornerback, so that’s something I’m thankful for,” Jalil Brown said. “He told me that he liked my size and speed. I looked at his résumé. He coached in the league 15 years, coached two Thorpe Award winners in Deon Figures and Chris Hudson. I figured you don’t get much better than this when it comes to coaching.
“So I figured, ‘Let’s give this a try.’ He told me I could always go back to running back, and luckily it worked out great.”
That defensive backs coach was Greg Brown.
Jalil Brown said he quickly embraced the idea of playing defense, of matching up with wide receivers and doing what he could to keep the ball away from them.
“I just like the idea of going one-on-one against a receiver rather than having the ball in my hands,” he said.
Most secondary coaches in the NFL think the 6-foot, 204-pound Brown could rise into the middle rounds of the April 28-30 draft. They like his composure, maturity and size — and the work he has done since his final season in Boulder ended. They like how he has tried to prevent all of those touchdowns he once dreamed of scoring.
“I hope so,” Brown said. “It’s something you start to think about, getting to the NFL, and now it’s right in front of me.”
Jeff Legwold: 303-954-2359 or jlegwold@denverpost.com
