It was a tumultuous summer for Deshun Brown, considered one of the top running back prospects in the state of Michigan.
After violating a rule at Birmingham Brother Rice, he was forced to find a new school. His scholarship offer from Bowling Green was gone too. He's landed at South Lake High now and ready to show the world that he's a new man.
"I'm very motivated," Brown said. "I work out daily. I'm more focused now, more committed to school and football and I want to prove a lot of people wrong. A lot of people thought I couldn't bounce back."
South Lake is under going a face lift itself. New head coach Chanterius Brock is bringing a new look to the football team, and his job with Brown will be more than just coaching him on the field.
"I think it's going to be a great fit for me because Coach Brock, he's not just a coach, he's my mentor too. He's going to help me stay on track and get focused. I'm leaving a lot of my friends, and it's time to focus on school and football."
Brown's new coach has already been working on his behalf, talking to several college coaches about his newest addition.
"I've been in contact alrady with Mike Hart from Eastern Michigan," Brock said, "Toledo as well and also Coach Wheatley from Syracuse. They want to see the first couple games and give him a strong evaluation."
They should have plenty to look at on those first few game tapes, as Brown figured to be a large part of Brock's offense.
"Our offense will be predicated on our ability to run the ball downhill at people, and that fits his game to a T. We'll be in the I and different variations of pro stuff. It will be similar in the run game to things he used to do at Rice, but a little more pulling, trapping, counter game, downhill running, but with a few spread elements. We have a pretty athletic quarterback and a big fullback, so it's a good fit offensively."
Thus, football should be taken care of, but what about everything else?
"I was in summer school this summer for three classes to pull up my core GPA," Brown explains. "I'm about to take classes for ACT prep to get a higher score and Coach Brock has study hall classes and study tables and I think that will help a lot too."
Brown is already in solid shape academically, and Brock intends to help him make the push he needs in the classroom.
"He already got a 19 on the test and has a 2.7. We're definitely looking forward to bringing all that up. It still makes him a qualifier. He got three A's in summer school and we're only going to keep bringing him up in terms of core GPA then see. I fully expect him to be able to handle the curriculum at South Lake now that he's been refocused."
The first game of the season is against Lake Shore, a rivalry game, one that Brock says many will expect South Lake to lose. The addition of Brown gives him confidence his team will come out on top though, and Mr. Brown himself says it will just be the start of what should be a year of redemption.
"Expect great things. I'm looking for great things this senior year. I've been working hard and so has everybody else around me."