Brown returns to defensive backfield after 'freak accident'

On a Los Angeles summer afternoon last year, Rudy Brown went to his usual summer job, helping his father at a construction site.

In the middle of working, a beam swung toward his head.

"I was just trying to get out of the way," said the Wharton junior, one of Penn's starting cornerbacks.

It was this "freak accident" on a construction job in 2002 that landed Brown with a concussion, forcing him to miss the entire next football season after an impressive 2001 that earned him the Quakers Defensive Rookie of the Year award.

While football players suffer concussions in games all the time that force them out for one month at most, Brown's summer accident was more serious because of his medical history.

This was his fourth concussion.

"I have a history of concussions, so that's what made it worse," Brown said. "Just playing the game, you hit somebody and they hit you."

Brown also suffered a big hit in the game against Harvard at the end of the 2001 season, according to Penn secondary coach Ray Priore.

"He got his first part of the concussion then, then got his bell rung after his sophomore season," Priore said.

When he reported to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania immediately after the 2001 incident, there was no doubt the injury -- which included memory problems and trouble concentrating -- was serious enough to warrant special handling.

"You don't want to screw around with a kid's head," coach Al Bagnoli said. "We did the right thing keeping him out for a full season."

Since Brown suffered this most recent injury before the 2002 season began, Bagnoli and Priore had time to find players to fill his shoes.

"It happened right before he came to camp, so it was kind of surprising," senior linebacker Steve Lhotak said. "Luckily at that time, we had some guys that could trade spots [with Brown], we're pretty deep back there.... It hurt us, but if there was a time where it wouldn't have impacted us as much, that was it."

Pat McManus and Fred Plaza started at the corner spots last season for Penn's Ivy League best defense. Plaza, now-graduated, earned first-team All-Ivy honors and McManus, who will start alongside Brown this year, received honorable mention.

As the ill effects of the concussion began to subside in the fall -- while Penn was routing opponents en route to an Ivy title -- Brown set his mind on rejoining his team.

"I obviously wanted to play, especially when I knew my contribution could be appreciated," Brown said. "There's really no way to describe it when you want to play and you can't play. You feel restricted and you want to jump out there and get into the mix, but you can't, so it hurts a lot."

Brown worked out in the first semester, and returned to full-contact drills with the rest of the team in the spring of 2003.

"He's a tough kid, so that wasn't an issue," Priore said. "He came out in the springtime and went through all the sprint tackles and came out with no problems.

"He was our most productive defensive back out of the spring... he stepped right in as if he didn't miss a beat, which is very unusual."

Bagnoli and Priore are taking extra precautions this season, putting Brown in a new helmet specially designed for players who have suffered previous head trauma.

"It's built more like a race car helmet," Priore said. "The chin pad covers most of the jaw instead of just the ear.... It absorbs the shock better."

Despite suffering more concussions already in his young career than many professional players, Brown remains as tenacious as he was before he knew what a head injury felt like.

"If you go in the game with the mindset that 'Oh, I might get hurt,' you will get hurt," Brown said. "I don't play with that mindset.

"I give everything 110 percent regardless of any injury that may come to me, because it's a contact sport."

"This is football, and whether [the injury] happens during the offseason or the regular season, you have to move on," Lhotak said.

Brown credits his teammates as the main reason he's back on the Franklin Field turf.

"My teammates are 90 percent the reason I even play like I play, if not 100 percent," Brown said. "Without my teammates, there is no way I could really get through what football is.

"I love my teammates, I wouldn't trade them for anything."

And his teammates are certainly happy to see him back, healthy and ready to bring another trophy to West Philadelphia.

"He's a great player with all the skills," Lhotak said. "He brings intensity, aggression, explosiveness, style, class and good looks."

And after watching the Red and Blue win the Ivy League championship from the bench, Brown is eager to join his team on the field once again.

"You are happy for your teammates, that's for sure, especially when they did well like last year," Brown said. "They played Penn defense like it was supposed to be played."

While coaches are happy now, they have high expectations for Brown, expecting him to start right where he left off in 2001.

"He's a terrific cover guy, a great run defender and we are certainly a better football team with him," Bagnoli said.

"We expect bigger and better things from him, and we're counting on it."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.