Many believed Erik Brown was on the verge of blowing up before the NLA 7-on-7 event in Las Vegas earlier this month and the 2014 California wide receiver definitely burst on the national scene with his performance for the Ground Zero team coached by Armond Hawkins.
“It was a good experience seeing so many teams and so many different people out there,” Brown said. “Seeing people who have different rankings, seeing how they performed and how I performed in contrast. It was a very fun experience.
“I always think I can do better. I’m not satisfied with how well I did. I think I did good, just not as good as I could have. I can always do better.”
The 6-foot-1, 172-pounder from Summit High School in Fontana, Calif., blew up again this past weekend, grabbing Offensive Skills MVP honors at a Rivals Camp on the West Coast. He already has offers from Houston and Nevada, but his recruitment is now likely to take a turn toward more BCS programs and Brown admitted it was a bit of a confidence-booster.
“After all of the media attention, I feel a little bigger,” he said. “I’m very excited about it. I’m taking it one step at a time.”
He feels blessed to have the two offers he already has.
“It feels like the hard work is finally paying off and it’s just begun,” said Brown.
Cal, BYU, Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, Boise State and Idaho have already shown some serious interest among several others. One school he hopes to hear from is Notre Dame as he has a high interest in the Irish early.
“Definitely I do,” he said. “I don’t know if they’re looking at me or not, but I do have interest in Notre Dame and my mom wants me to take a trip out there if we ever do receive an offer or anything.”
Brown isn’t sure what about Notre Dame has his mother’s interest, “I really don’t know, honestly, but she really wants me to make that trip.”
But for him, it’s the traditional program the Irish boast.
“To be honest, they broke out to me last year when I watched their progression into the national championship,” he said. “That’s when I started looking at them, looking into them the years before and how they run their program.”
Brown, who said he’d be clocked in the 4.4-range in a 40-yard dash, claimed the league championship in the 100 meters as a sophomore with a time of 10.8 seconds.
“My biggest strengths would be speed and route running, footwork and that type of stuff,” he said.
Brown has already been on a couple of unofficial visits and is looking forward to taking more soon.
“Unofficially, I’ve been to UCLA plenty of times, my mom actually works there,” he said. “I’ve been to USC plenty of times and Cal-Berkeley because my aunt went to Cal. A lot of schools want me to come out in April for spring games and spring practices, so I will be making more visits soon.”
He already has a broad idea of what he’s looking for in a college.
“As far as the school, I’m just looking for a place I can be comfortable and if they’re skilled in communications because that’s what I’m going to major in. As far as a football program, I just want to know how a school can use me as a player.”
