Top national football recruit Bryce Brown will continue his well-orchestrated plan for choosing a college to attend, his father, Arthur Brown Sr., said Monday.
But because the University of Miami apparently is losing interest in the running back, Arthur Sr. said, the Browns are ''leaning heavily'' toward making this weekend's trip to LSU the player's final official recruiting trip. Arthur Sr. said a UM assistant coach called him and Bryce on Thursday afternoon at separate times to relay the school's concerns.
''They said they were very, very concerned about the media circus around his recruitment,'' Arthur Sr. told The Miami Herald. ``I think they pretty much wanted him to make a decision immediately without him going through his plan. Bryce told them he would have to talk to his family about that and that we would call back at 7 p.m. Thursday.
``We called back at 7 p.m. and left messages with [running backs coach] Tommie Robinson and Randy Shannon. We told Coach Shannon on the message that [Bryce is] going through his original plan and that Miami is in that plan and he would take his visits as planned and make his decision March 16.''
Neither Shannon nor any coaches have called back, the elder Brown said. Shannon might not be allowed to initiate a personal call to Bryce, 17, because of recruiting limits, Arthur Sr. said, but Shannon can take a call from Bryce.
`IT'S ALL RUMOR'
Does Arthur Sr. interpret UM's lack of response as a loss of interest in Bryce?
''Pretty much,'' he said. ``But unless it comes from Coach Shannon, it's all rumor and speculation.
``In all fairness to Coach Shannon, I have to kind of say I understand where they're coming from. This thing has turned into something we never anticipated.''
Bryce Brown's father, whose other son, Arthur Jr., is a linebacker at UM, said he regrets the way this saga is ending. Now it seems likely there won't be an official visit to UM on March 3 during spring practice, as Bryce wanted. Instead, all things point to LSU being the final official visit.
UM is not allowed to comment on specific recruits. On Monday, in an interview with The Miami Herald, Shannon said UM has ``three or four scholarships left, and at this present time we're not looking at anybody. But if somebody pops up that can help us, we'll evaluate him and look at him carefully. You can always carry over the scholarships you don't use from one year to the next.''
Bryce Brown, of Wichita, Kan., has made official visits to Missouri, Oregon, Clemson and Tennessee, and an unofficial visit to Kansas State. He is rated the nation's No. 1 prospect and has until April 1 to choose a school. National Signing Day was Feb. 4.
''It has gotten to the point where this whole thing should have been avoided and could have been avoided,'' Arthur Brown Sr. said Monday. ``If we could do it all over again, there are a lot of things we should have and would have done differently. For Bryce, I'd say regardless of how you express the need to make additional visits, if that's your plan, then don't commit. Don't commit. Also, you should keep a very frequent communication with the coaches -- Coach Shannon and the other coaches.
``If you have that time constraint, then keep in mind that [the coaches] have time constraints, too, and you should be sensitive to that.''
UM STILL IN THE MIX
Should Bryce not visit UM, would that keep the Hurricanes out of his decision-making process March 16?
''No, not at all,'' Arthur Sr. said, 'unless we know they definitely don't want him. Come March 16, if he feels like he wants to be at UM, he'd get on the phone and call Coach Shannon. If Coach Shannon said, `Yes,' he'd go to UM. If he said, 'No,' he wouldn't. He'd do that privately.''
Arthur Sr. reiterated that Arthur Jr., who will be a sophomore, loves UM.
''This won't affect Arthur in the least,'' his dad said. ``The only thing Arthur is concerned about is that Bryce prays on it and does what's right.''
Arthur Sr. was asked if the process has affected the Browns' relationship with Shannon.
''No,'' he said. ``He's family.''
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02-18-2009, 05:40 PM
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