High school football: National champs the choice for Wayne’s Elijah Brown

“It was just I felt it was right,” he said. “I had a great relationship with coach Bill O’Brien from the first time I talked to him.”

O’Brien, the former head coach at Penn State and of the Houston Texans, was hired Jan. 21 as the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Crimson Tide.

That was 10 days after Alabama beat Ohio State in the College Football Playoff Championship Game.

“I was already (interested), and then just seeing them win the championship made me feel really good,” said Brown, who had more than a dozen scholarship offers and considered LSU, USC, Notre Dame and Arizona State his other finalists. “Then I had a great talk with Coach (Nick) Saban about a week ago, and after that I pretty much knew this is where I want to be and this is where I want to make my home.”

After donning the Red and Black of WHS as a senior this fall, the son of Shelly and Ernest Brown plans to enroll in school next January and major in business and marketing.

“My dad is big in business so I’ve watched him growing up my whole life doing that,” said Elijah, whose father is general sales manager for wine trends at Heidelberg Distributing.

With the NCAA restricting recruiting visits since the start of the coronavirus pandemic last March, Brown has not actually been to the Tuscaloosa campus yet, but he said the coaching staff has done a good job presenting it virtually.

He is drawn to Alabama not only by the program’s on-field success but the pitch Saban gave about what his program can do for players in all aspects of their lives.

“Definitely that was very appealing to me and my family,” Brown said, “Just because they hit all aspects of your of your career. They’re gonna better me as a man and get me ready to be a businessman and get my name out there and build my brand pretty much.

“Just everything from personal development, how can you grow not just as a football player but as a man. That really stood out to me. They really care about their players, and it’s a great place to go.”

Saban has built a national recruiting juggernaut at Alabama, where he has won six national championships since 2007.

The Crimson Tide have only occasionally pulled players from Ohio, but Brown is looking at being the third player from the Buckeye State to sign with Saban’s program in as many years.

Alabama snagged cornerback Devonta Smith from Cincinnati La Salle in the most recent recruiting cycle and signed Akron Hoban tight end Caden Clark from the class of 2020.

Prior to that, the last Ohioan to sign with Alabama was La Salle receiver Derek Keif in 2014.

The last Dayton-area player to sign with Alabama was Trey DePriest, a linebacker from Springfield in the class of 2011. Alabama also signed Lakota West offensive lineman Ryan Kelly that year.

Wayne has made a habit of sending players to FBS schools with at least one in eight of the last nine years, a trend senior quarterback Cam Fancher continued by signing with Marshall in December.

Aside from Brown, Wayne’s 2022 class has multiple Division I prospects.

That starts with Aamil Wagner, a four-star prospect who is ranked the No. 12 offensive lineman in the country for 2022. He has not made his college choice yet but has an impressive offer list that includes Kentucky, Arizona State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Oregon, Penn State and Tennessee.

Classmates Adam Trick, Tyler Dorsey, Bryan Kinley, Ray Green, Jordan Ward, Jimmy Dunford and James Cammon are also on college radars according to Warriors coach Roosevelt Mukes while the 2023 class already has several members getting the attention as well.

The latter group includes offensive linemen Josh Padilla and Evan Tengesdahl as well as the coach’s son, R.J., who is a receiver.

Mukes said the sky is the limit for Brown, a 6-foot-6, 240-pound tight end who led the Warriors with 20 catches for 278 yards last season.

He is a four-star prospect and the No. 11 player in Ohio according to 247Sports Composite rankings.

“Whatever he pursues, he has a lot of potential and will only get better each and every day,” Mukes said. “Just being in that position in an environment like that where you have to compete every day and work hard, that’s only going to help you in all aspects of life.”

Although Wayne will have a new quarterback this fall, he should not lack for weapons.

“(Brown) can just create mismatches for us,” Mukes said. “We have to do a good job of making sure that we put him in the right position to be successful and utilize his abilities to help the team.

“I think that’s the thing about Elijah and some of our players: They just want to do whatever to help the team win. They want to contribute, so it’s our job and our challenge as coaches to put those young men in position so that they can do that.”