Days after mother’s death, Tre Brown leads Sooner defense
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Tre Brown was one of the last Sooners to leave the field Saturday.
While most of his teammates jogged up the tunnel and into the visitor’s locker room after OU’s 52-27 win against TCU, Brown shook hands and took pictures with Sooner fans leaning over the north end zone wall at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Finally, as Brown bounded up the ramp and into the locker room, a game ball was waiting for him.
The sophomore from Tulsa played admirably in his first career start at cornerback. And he had done it just six days since his mom, Beverly Brewer, died.
“I couldn’t have done it,” OU coach Lincoln Riley said. “I mean, I don’t know where he got his strength.”
Brown’s teammates were one source of strength.
About 15 of them made the trip to Greater Mount Rose Baptist Church in Tulsa on Thursday for the funeral. Linebackers Kenneth Murray, Levi Draper and safety Chanse Sylvie were among the pallbearers.
“It was an honor to help, and carry his mom and put her to rest peacefully,” Murray said.
That feeling wasn’t lost on Murray two days later.
“Every time that I made a play, I gave a quick heart and pointed up to the sky,” Murray said. “I wanted to go out there and play for him. I felt like everybody went out there and played for a brother.”
Senior linebacker Curtis Bolton lost his father during his freshman year of high school. He reached out to Brown but didn’t want to lecture him on what it’s like to lose a parent. Even Bolton said there’s
nobody who can tell Brown how it feels, or how to react.
Brown missed the least amount of practice one would expect given the circumstances, Riley said. For Bolton, football was his outlet after losing his father.
“I remember just wanting to show up the next day and work and not act like nothing happened, but this is our release,” Bolton said. “There’s not many things you can do in this country where you get to go beat the snot out of someone and not get in trouble for it.”
Brown had four tackles and two pass deflections against TCU. Oklahoma’s defense held its opponent to fewer than 300 total yards for the first time this season. Brown and the defensive backs allowed just 163 passing yards.
Brown has played in every game, but he’s been the third man in Oklahoma’s cornerback rotation behind Parnell Motley and Tre Norwood despite leading the team with six pass breakups.
His start Saturday could be a sign of things to come.
There was no question as to whom Riley would award the game ball.
“If something happens to one of the boys, it happens to Lincoln,” defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill said. “And Tre was one. From the players going down to help send his mom up to the angels and join my mother and a lot of other mothers, to the players going to welcome him back, to giving him a great game ball. I’m just proud of Lincoln and how he handled it.”
When McNeill talked to Brown soon after his loss, he got goose bumps. He told Brown that his mom can watch him practice now.
Except loss isn’t the word McNeill used.
“You gained your mom,” he told Brown. “You just gained an angel.”