Coveted QB Recruit Jacurri Brown Kicks off SI All-American Blog
Jacurri Brown is one of the most highly-recruited junior quarterback prospects in America, collecting more than two dozen scholarship offers from programs coast to coast. He has agreed to give Sports Illustrated exclusive access into his world by chronicling everything from his experience as a high-profile recruit to his home life and preparation for his senior season.
Hello, world. Jacurri Brown here.
I'm a kid from Valdosta, Georgia. Born here, raised here. 17 years old. My dad is military, he's in Delaware right now. My mom lives here. I've had a really good childhood. I'm the youngest of four brothers.
All of us together are like four peas in a pod. It's a real good brotherhood. Oldest brother, Deyontay, is military, too. We call him Tay. He's Army and in school to be a pilot right now. He's 27 years old and has been in for 7 years. The second oldest brother is Laxavier. We call him Zay. He played football where I'm at right now -- Lowndes -- and then went to Weber. He came home and now he's here working. I've got another brother named Tavares. He's in Gainesville right now being really smart, doing Door Dash.
So you know how you have that best friend that you've had since elementary school? Inseparable, both play the same sports, have the same ideas, just being kids. Live in the same neighborhood, grew up together, just your boy. Well I do. My best friend Tate. He's about 5'8" and plays slot receiver at my school. Obviously he's a little overlooked but he's got hands and is a quick kid. Really, really good; I love playing with him.
I just picked up a guitar, I can play the guitar. It's pretty nice, an electric guitar, not a two-string. I'm like more of an extreme type. I learned it off of YouTube after one lesson that I went to with this guy in my Spanish class. Also, I'm taking a real good interest in Spanish, I'm trying to learn that. I fish sometimes, somewhat. Down here in south Georgia, it's pretty easy to.
It's a really good place to live. Kind of moderate heat. Sometimes it rains in Lake Park and not where I live, which is 15 minutes away. In my lifetime it's only snowed once and it wasn't hard, like a blizzard. It was more like watching a lava lamp like, 'oh, that's cool.' Summers are really toasty. There's a saying with alumni that if you squat down in the summer, you can see the heat raising up. Heat monkeys, that's what we call it. That's another thing, we're really big on tradition.
We're kind of slept on down here, though, because of ATL. When you think of Georgia, you think of Atlanta, probably. But if you're thinking Georgia football, you've got to think Lowndes High. There's no question. Not trying to be cocky or anything, but we're not to be played with. For me, I'm known for being the quarterback at Lowndes. Put in perspective, your high school getting you clout. We're used to winning and have fun doing it.
We finished the season last year at 10-2, losing to Colquitt County, a big rival. We fell short at the state semifinals, to Collins Hill, a really well-coached team. They have a really good player, Travis Hunter, that just plays with his hair on fire. Kudos to him. Though COVID-19 and a lot of other factors affected us, we were quarantined before region play and played our next game after just three days of practice. And won. That's the Viking way, overcoming adversity.
I've played quarterback my whole life, except one year, and I played tight end. I was probably nine or 10. That was for my rec league team, the Firebirds, coached by my uncle, Antonio Wesley. He really sparked my football interest by throwing me in the fire when I was just six years old.
Ever since I've been in high school, we've been in the semifinals or state championship. We've been nationally ranked. I started as a freshman. I really enjoy Friday nights in Martin Stadium. I wish y'all could see her, she holds 12,000 and just seems to be alive on Friday nights. What makes her come to life is not only the football team, but our student section, the Concrete Crazies, and the whole Viking nation.
At Lowndes, we've got five state rings. Winning is the standard. That's why the whole city of Valdosta is called Title Town. The Winnersville Classic is our game against crosstown rival Valdosta High 🤮. It's a part of the Great American Rivalry Series and we just played them on ESPN this year. I called 'game' on a 62-yard run with less than a minute to play.
Like I said, tradition is big here. It was mostly built by coach Randy McPherson. He coached for 18 years and during that time he won three state championships. He retired after my sophomore season. My new coach is Jamey Dubose. He is from Alabama and was at Central-Phenix City, where he won state in 2018.
This year I took a big step as a passer. The offense I had been in, the past two years before, was just like Wing-T out of the shotgun. When you've got a guy like me -- I'm about 6'4", 205 and I had a good O-line -- running the ball isn't a bad idea. So we would run it until you stopped it. That's how we play down here. The dirty South, just hit you in the mouth until you stop it.
I'm a four-star recruit, ESPN 300 No. 1 dual-threat. I'm very blessed with 24 offers from schools, SEC, ACC, a lot of Power 5 schools. I'm just blessed because even in ninth grade I could never imagine I would achieve so much. And to think I have a long way to go. Like I said we get slept on. A lot of people from here don't get out or make something out of themselves. There's always like those distractions that you cannot get distracted by. Some people fall for them so it takes a strong mindset to get out of things.
With recruiting, I just dropped my top five. It's Arizona State, Florida, Miami, Texas A&M and Auburn. These are schools I feel like I can see myself at. We'll get more into that in the other blogs.
I just wanna say thank you for taking the time reading this, paying attention. You're gonna get to see a side of me that nobody else gets to see. A true journal -- All Aboard the Jacurri Train.
Follow Jacurri on Twitter (@jacurri5ive) and IG (jacurr11.dadon)
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