How Jahmar Brown is taking accountability for goal-line mistake vs Troy
Jahmar Brown has watched the video. He said he’s apologized to head coach Shane Beamer and learned from his mistake.
Amid a bizarre sequence that included three fumbles against Troy, Brown ended up with the football and 62 yards of open field. Brown could’ve had the touchdown, but he flipped the ball just as he approached the goal line. The play was reviewed, and it resulted in a touchback.
Brown spoke with the media Tuesday and met questions about the weekend of negative social media attention with a good attitude. The redshirt sophomore defensive back has talked with Beamer, defensive coordinator Clayton White and his position coach Torrian Gray about the play.
He said he’s flushing the mistake out of his system.
“I hate to say that I’m glad to be a reference point, but I’m glad I can be a reference point for other people to run the ball through the end zone,” Brown said. “It’s unfortunate that that happened. It’s unfortunate that I made that mistake, and that mistake could’ve cost my team, and I felt very terrible about that. But at this point in time, there’s nothing else for me to do but to move on, nothing else for my team to do but to move on.”
Brown had a game of ups and downs against Troy, specifically in the second half after starting safety R.J. Roderick was ejected for targeting. Brown was credited with a blocked punt earlier in the game and also came down with what he deemed an interception, though it was overturned on the field.
Beamer adamantly came to Brown’s defense when asked about how coaches manage players as they read social media commentary.
“Nobody feels worse about that play than Jahmar, and let’s not lose sight of the million other fantastic plays that he made on Saturday,” Beamer said. “The kid played his butt off on Saturday and came into a tough situation with R.J. getting kicked out, Jaylin Dickerson being a little dinged up. He probably went in there not even thinking if he was gonna play. Next thing you know, he’s playing his tail off.”
Brown took accountability on social media as early as Saturday night after the game. He commented on a video of the play at 7:46 p.m. that evening.
“Dumb mistake won’t happen again,” Brown tweeted with the “100” emoji.
Beamer said Brown’s mistake was turned into a learning moment.
“Like I told him, I know he feels bad about it,” Beamer said. “We’re not OK-ing it. It’s not OK. He knows that. But let’s just coach it, correct it, and not lose sight of what else he did. He’s not gonna let one play define him, and we’re not gonna let it define him for us, either.”
