High school athletes often earn a varsity letter in one or two sports. Quinton Brown lettered in six.

It’s not surprising the sophomore from Maryland is not content to just play football for Syracuse.

Brown, a cornerback for the SU football team, made his debut with the track team on Feb. 4 at the Syracuse Invitational. A nagging lower back injury limited Brown to one meet during the indoor season, and spring football practice kept him away from track for the beginning of the outdoor season.

Brown is finally healthy and will take advantage of his time off from football to return to the track team this spring. He thinks the skills he learns from running track will make him a better football player in the long run.

‘(Running track) already has made a difference,’ Brown said. ‘It’s helped in my explosiveness and my starts. I can take small things from track.’

Brown has been a versatile athlete since he attended Frederick Douglass High School in Maryland. He earned varsity letters in football, indoor track, outdoor track, baseball, swimming and wrestling in his junior and senior years.

Brown used his experiences in other sports to make him a better football player. He said he swam to gain more upper-body strength, played baseball to work on his hand-eye coordination and ran track to improve his speed. The sport that challenged Brown most was wrestling because it tested his toughness.

‘Wrestling was the hardest sport I’ve ever played in my life,’ Brown said. ‘I went in there for the sole purpose that I expected a whooping when I went in there. I’m not a physically overpowering guy, but I will hit you.’

J.C. Pinkney, the head football coach at Frederick Douglass, said Brown was one of the most athletic kids he ever coached. Pinkney said it wasn’t extremely rare for an athlete to compete in six sports, but it was rare for someone to have as much success as Brown did in every sport he played.

Every time Brown had success in a sport other than football, it inspired him to try a new sport. Pinkney said Brown never stopped pushing himself to excel in every sport he played.

‘He was just always interested in trying new stuff,’ Pinkney said. ‘He can’t sit still for a minute.’

Brown said he first spoke to Syracuse head football coach Greg Robinson about running track in the offseason. Brown said Robinson told him he could join the track team as long as his grades didn’t suffer.

Brown’s experience playing multiple sports in high school helps him balance the classroom, track and football, because he learned how to manage his time.

‘Actually, I like the fact that I stay busy, because it gives me more time to stay focused,’ Brown said. ‘I can’t really go out and party because I know I can’t procrastinate. When things need to be done, they get done.’

It didn’t take much to convince Syracuse head track coach Chris Fox that Brown could help the team this spring. Fox said the track team is always open to athletes from other sports joining the team, but added the coaches do not actively pursue these athletes.

‘We’ve let it be known that we wouldn’t mind having football players if they’re available, and fortunately Coach Robinson made him available to us,’ Fox said.

Brown will not have much trouble finding time to practice with the track team in the spring because the football team does not practice again until the summer. But Brown struggled to balance football and track during the indoor season.

Fox said the football and track coaches worked together to plan a workout for Brown.

‘They worked out a schedule that is good for us and good for football too,’ Fox said. ‘I think we can do some good things speed-wise for some guys, but they have things they have to take care of in the weight room. I think we will eventually have a relationship.’

Brown will have to adjust to a full-time track workout because he has been away from the sport for two years. He won the Maryland state championship in the 55-meter hurdles as a senior, but will not be competing as a hurdler this year. He plans to run the 100-meter dash or 200-meter dash this spring because he doesn’t think he has enough time to train to be a competitive hurdler.

Though Brown has not run competitive track since high school, he believes he can win races at the Division I level.

‘I’m a competitive person,’ Brown said. ‘I don’t think you can find a college athlete that doesn’t want to win. That’s why you play sports.’

Brown is also making adjustments on the football field this season. He is making the switch from offense to defense to play what he believes is a more natural position for him.

Brown will earn more of an opportunity to show off his versatile athletic skills at cornerback than he did at wide receiver last year. He had the opportunity to play cornerback this spring and said he gets more comfortable on the defensive side with every snap he plays.

‘At cornerback I can just let my athletic ability take over,’ Brown said. ‘The more reps I get, the more confident I get.’

Brown actually hopes he will not be able to run track next winter. He hopes the football coaches won’t let him run because he will have more important things to worry about. Winter is college football’s bowl season, after all.

‘Hopefully if things go like we believe they will, we won’t be home for Christmas and I won’t have the opportunity to run track,’ Brown said. ‘I’ll be somewhere hot that’s not Syracuse.

‘I don’t plan on running indoor track. Maybe outdoor track.’

Published on April 23, 2006 at 12:00 pm