Jaden Brown Follows in Father’s Footsteps at BTW

By Mike Moguin
GTR Sports Writer

For Jaden Brown, being the son of a Division-I college football standout brought some non-stop work. 
His father of course is Booker T. Washington head coach Jonathan Brown, a Hornet alum who played collegiately at Tennessee as well as some time in the NFL.  
“He’s always been training me in any sport, making sure I was going to be the best at it,” the younger Brown said. And you can bet he was thrilled when his father was named coach over a year ago. 
“Whenever he was named coach for my senior year, I was overfilled with joy,” Brown said. “Because it is my last year and my dad gets to coach me.”
Brown, a defensive lineman who has alternated between tackle and nose guard for BTW, also has an older brother who influenced him. 
“I kind of molded my game after him,” the younger Brown said. 
The older Brown brother, who has the same first name as their father, was a senior and a member of the 2017 Class 6AII state championship team. He also played nose guard. Jaden Brown was a freshman that year.
All that work and influence have paid off. Jaden Brown has now completed his own stellar career and signed with the University of Central Oklahoma back in early February. Also bound for Edmond with teammates Jalen Teague and Joshua Baskin.
What stood out to him at UCO was the culture. 
“It’s built on Oklahoma players they sign,” Brown said. “Everybody from this signing class is all from Oklahoma and I feel like that is really big. The idea of staying near home and having a lot of my family living out there also made a difference. Honestly, when they told me they were going to give me a scholarship offer, it was almost a no-brainer, I just felt like that was the best place for me. Coach (Nick) Bobeck is doing a good job developing that program and I feel like he is going to keep doing it. I also have two teammates coming with me so I feel like it’s going to be fun.
“Josh and I met in fifth grade playing football together and we’ve built that relationship. I met J.T. (Jalen Teague) my ninth grade year, so this was like being together again, it will still give me the satisfaction of being at home because I’ve gone to battle with them the last four years of my high school career and them being at college with me is going to be even better.”
From an academic standpoint, UCO has a sports performance center that was recently built, Brown said. “Coach (Andrew) Rice is head of academic matters for the football program. He explains how he would be a tutor and help us,” he added. “One thing he said is ‘If you fail, you tried to fail,’ and that really stood out to me because he really cared about academics. It’s not just about the athletic standpoint, they care about academics, so that really stood out to me there.”
Brown chose UCO over a preferred walk-on opportunity at OSU, Arkansas Tech, Northwestern Oklahoma State, NSU and NEO.
“UCO just gave me that family vibe, the home vibe and it really stood out to me. That’s why I chose that school,” Brown said. 
His favorite memory at BTW was when “my school raised a gold ball,” he said. Brown, of course, is referencing the Hornets’ state championship win in 2017. He now looks forward to making his mark in Edmond. 
“I’m going to come in there ready to run, try to play my freshman year and just learn from the dudes older than me,” Brown said. “College is a different speed. It’s not the same speed as high school ball. I took a week off after the season ended and have been working out ever since so I can be ready.”