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UCLA Football: Jayon Brown’s Emergence as a Star

By James Puryear

Jul 15, 2016; Hollywood, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins linebacker Jayon Brown during Pac-12 media day at Hollywood & Highland. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 15, 2016; Hollywood, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins linebacker Jayon Brown during Pac-12 media day at Hollywood & Highland. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Coming off the bench mid-season as a result of the loss of Myles Jack,  Jayon Brown quickly emerged as a versatile defensive star and ended up leading the team with 93 tackles on the year.

Before emerging this season defensive star, Jayon Brown’s football talent was displayed early on with the UCLA Football team when he won the John Boncheff, Jr. Award, which goes to the best freshman on special teams.

Related Story: UCLA Football is in the AP All-Time Top 25

Yet, despite his potential as a player Brown didn’t see the field as much as his talent might normally suggest.  Making only a two tackles in his sophomore season Brown had yet to make a start going into his junior year.

The reasons for that however, had less to do with his talent and more to do with guys ahead of him.  With an absolutely loaded depth chart that included not only Myles Jack but Anthony Barr  and Eric Kendricks, even NFL caliber talent would struggle to find playing time for the Bruins.

“I was patiently waiting for my opportunity and when it came, I made the most of it.”

In an article by ESPN Brown describes the situation by saying “I was patiently waiting for my opportunity and when it came, I made the most of it”.  Its hard to argue Brown didn’t make the most out of the situation.  In addition to leading the team in tackles, Brown also displayed great coverage ability and was tied for 2nd most pass break ups on the team, ending the year with a total of 6.

Oct 22, 2015; Pasadena, CA, USA; California Golden Bears running back Khalfani Muhammad (29) runs against UCLA Bruins linebacker Jayon Brown (12) during the first quarter at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 22, 2015; Pasadena, CA, USA; California Golden Bears running back Khalfani Muhammad (29) runs against UCLA Bruins linebacker Jayon Brown (12) during the first quarter at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports /

But beyond the impressive statistics, Brown’s unique skill set allowed the UCLA Football team to maintain its defense identity.

With a defensive scheme that relied heavily on the versatility of the Myles the “Jack-of-all-trades” to drop into coverage in the pass heavy PAC-12, having a linebacker with a similiar coverage set was key in allowing the depleted defense to remain in a system it was comfortable with.

Looking forward the UCLA defense is hoping to put behind the woes of the 2015 season behind them while looking at the upcoming campaign prove themselves in the upcoming season.

“I feel like with this defense, we can be top in the country…We can only beat ourselves”

For Brown, this means being the best defense in the country.  In the same ESPN article,  Brown expressed that with the return of injured stars such Eddie Vanderdoes and Fabian Moreau along with the collective experience on that side of the ball, that the Bruins are capable becoming the nation’s premiere defense.

With the return of almost all of the starting defense, there’s definitely reason to be optimistic about UCLA on that side of the ball.  Bruin fans have to wait a little less than a month to see for themselves the debut of the new defense at Kyle Field against Texas A&M.

Next: UCLA Football Barely Makes the USA Today Coaches Poll

As a side note,  after football it seems like Brown might have a potential career as a professional bowler, having claimed to have bowled over 200 at PAC-12 media day. Hopefully this isn’t the only Bowl game we’ll hear about from Brown this year.  Check out the video above for that and other tidbits.