Jyaire Brown was supposed to spend his final week before enrolling at Ohio State practicing for and playing in the All-American Bowl.
Instead, Brown will be watching Saturday’s game from a hotel room.
Brown was one of a multitude of players who tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in San Antonio for this year’s All-American Bowl, depriving him of the opportunity to play in a game he has long been looking forward to. Like several other players who tested positive, Brown expressed frustration with the process on social media, noting that he has not experienced any symptoms.
— Jyaire Brown (@jyairebrown13) January 4, 2022
Shit so depressing..
— Jyaire Brown (@jyairebrown13) January 5, 2022
its Friday. Still yet to feel any symptoms, and still yet to feel sick at all
— Jyaire Brown (@jyairebrown13) January 7, 2022
While participants in this year’s All-American Bowl are required to be vaccinated, Brown said players were not told until they arrived on Monday that they would be tested for COVID-19.
“Before we got here, we were told that all we needed in order to play was a COVID vaccination and proof of that. But when we got there, they took us through stations and one of the stations was COVID testing, and if you didn’t take the COVID test, you weren’t allowed to play,” Brown told Eleven Warriors on Friday. “So everybody took the COVID test, and I guess when my test and a lot of other guys’ tests came back (positive), it was determined that we couldn’t play and couldn’t participate in none of the team events and all that.”
Per CDC guidelines, Brown and other players who tested positive have been required to isolate in their hotel rooms for five days, which will prevent him from being in the Alamodome for Saturday’s game – though he did participate in the East team’s first practice of the week on Tuesday before his test result came in, at which point he was told he would not be allowed to participate in any further events for the rest of the week.
I look the devil in his face,since then I aint had no fears.. pic.twitter.com/iXxgGinDCu
— Jyaire Brown (@jyairebrown13) January 7, 2022
Brown is one of two Ohio State signees, along with wide receiver Kaleb Brown, who were supposed to play in the All-American Bowl but will not play this week after confirming they tested positive for COVID-19. Wide receiver signee Caleb Burton and defensive tackle target Hero Kanu have also been absent from All-American Bowl festivities even though both of them were expected to play in Saturday’s game, but neither of them have confirmed a reason for their absences.
Seven of Brown’s future Ohio State teammates (Kojo Antwi, Devin Brown, Caden Curry, George Fitzpatrick, Kyion Grayes, Carson Hinzman and Tegra Tshabola) will be playing in the All-American Bowl, which will kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday and will be televised on NBC, and it won’t be easy for Brown to have to watch from afar.
“I think people feel how frustrating it is, because this is something that I know me, I’ve been hoping and dreaming of playing in a game like this, and then just to come here and not be informed all the information and not being able to play is just heartbreaking,” Brown said. “Because for me, I know it was my only chance to prove to a lot of people out there what I can do.”
Brown doesn’t plan to stay down about not playing in the All-American Bowl for too long, though, because of what’s coming next. After leaving San Antonio on Sunday, Brown will only be going home briefly before heading up to Columbus, where he’ll start his first semester as a Buckeye on Monday as one of 12 early enrollees in Ohio State’s 2022 recruiting class.
Knowing that he’ll soon be going through the grind of Mickey Marotti’s strength and conditioning workouts, and because he has visions of making an early impact for the Buckeyes, Brown believes not playing in the All-American Bowl could actually be a good thing for him physically.
“That’s why I’m a little mad (about not playing) but I’m not too mad, because if it was meant to be, it’d be,” Brown said. “It is a blessing in disguise, because I get a chance to rest my body, get ready for the big stage.”
While Brown had dreamed of playing in the All-American Bowl, he’s been dreaming of playing for Ohio State even longer. The first member of the recruiting class of 2022 to commit to Ohio State, Brown has been committed to Ohio State for more than 20 months, and he says it’s “really exciting” to finally be starting his career as a Buckeye next week.
He’s been working hard to be as prepared as possible for the start of his Ohio State career, spending the last few weeks in Louisiana working with multiple trainers on his speed, flexibility and defensive back techniques. And he says the biggest thing Ohio State coaches have been telling him ahead of his arrival is to be “ready to work” when he gets there.
“Everything else is gonna fall into place,” Brown said. “Play my game, play up to my ability, keep the same attitude I’ve been having and everything else will fall into place.”
Although Brown will have plenty of competition to beat out if he’s going to earn immediate playing time as a freshman, a rapid rise up the depth chart wouldn’t be unprecedented, considering that Denzel Burke – who was actually ranked 41 spots lower in the class of 2021 than Brown, also a four-star prospect, is ranked in the 2022 class – became Ohio State’s No. 1 cornerback right away this past season.
That said, Brown is looking forward to learning from all of the other cornerbacks on Ohio State’s roster, as he expects them all to push each other and make each other better.
“Just when I get there, mainly listening with open ears,” Brown said when asked what he thinks he needs to do as a freshman. “Just picking from everybody’s game, getting myself better and learning from all them older dudes and the dudes that have been there a year before me, just learning from their game and putting it into my game.”
Going through adversity is nothing new for Brown, who went through his senior year at Cincinnati’s Lakota West High School with a heavy heart after the loss of his father, Lonnell, in April. But he says that tragedy only made his bond with Ohio State stronger, as Ryan Day, Kerry Coombs and the rest of Ohio State’s coaching staff made sure he consistently knew that they cared about him.
“Man, Ohio State helped out tremendously. I received letters from them multiple times, just reaching out to me, always checking on me,” Brown said. “There’s just been love. Genuine love, saying that they want me. Dealing with school, football, outside of football, everything’s just been there, it’s genuine love, and that’s what I feel like.”
Eleven Warriors’ Garrick Hodge is in San Antonio to cover Saturday’s All-American Bowl. Follow him on Twitter and stay tuned with Eleven Warriors this weekend for observations, photos and more coverage of the Buckeyes who are playing in the event.
