CENTRAL — When National Signing Day rolled around last month, Marcus Brown had the opportunity to sign a National Letter of Intent with a number of schools that were interested in him.
But despite having those options in front of him, the Daniel High School senior chose not to pull the proverbial trigger, as he wasn’t quite ready to put ink to paper.
And after some extra time to mull his decision, Brown finally made things official Tuesday when he signed to continue his football career at Newberry College — a school he wasn’t overly familiar with last month.
“I still had some more visits to go on, and I hadn’t even been to Newberry yet,” Brown said. “I had other offers, but when I went to Newberry, I just kind of had that feeling that I knew that’s where I wanted to go.
“It feels really good, and it’s a big weight off my shoulders to finally have made up my mind and just know I’m going to be playing next year, and it’s really just a lot of pressure lifted off of me.”
One of the Lions’ top leaders on defense the past two years, Brown had also considered Brevard, Mars Hill and Tusculum before signing on with Newberry, where he’ll play at safety after working primarily at cornerback for Daniel.
A member of the Western AAA all-region team as a senior, Brown registered team highs in passes broken up (15) and fumble recoveries (4) and tied for the team lead in interceptions with four to go along with his 51 tackles.
Brown also found his way into the end zone twice last season, and Daniel head coach Randy Robinson said all that success came despite playing out of position.
“Every college coach that came through, I kept saying, ‘Look, he’s too good at corner. I can’t move him, but I know he’s probably a safety for you guys,’ so we were always giving that little disclaimer to make sure we didn’t hurt him as far as film, but several schools took interest and it all worked out,” Robinson said. “Sometimes, it takes these guys a little longer to solidify where they want to go to school, but I’m glad it all worked out for Marcus.”
Brown, who was also the Lions’ starting punter, is also carrying on the family tradition of playing college football, as his father, Ray Brown, was a defensive tackle on Clemson’s 1981 National Championship team.
“It feels really good,” he said. “That’s always something I’ve wanted to do, so I put my mind to it and that’s what I did.”
And Brown said he couldn’t have done it without the help of the Lions’ coaching staff, who he gave ample credit to for his development during his time at Daniel.
“It’s been really fun, and I’ve earned a whole lot,” Brown said.
“I feel like I’ve grown up a whole lot since coming in the ninth grade, and the coaches have helped me develop as a player and as a person.”