Petroglyphs All Sports Tucson Notebook
Catalina Foothills, Ohio State alum Joe Brown’s son Ty a QB prospect
Almost three decades after his father Joe Brown played his first varsity games at Catalina Foothills High School as a junior in 1994, Ty Brown is establishing himself as a quarterback prospect after recently completing his junior season at Belton (Texas) High School.
The elder Brown, a heralded lineman, waited until Catalina Foothills fielded a varsity team two years after the school was founded in 1992.
Ty is a 6-foot-4 and 205-pound prospect who recently completed his second full varsity season as a starter for Belton. He completed 136 of 246 pass attempts for 1,992 yards with 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
He led Belton, located in the heart of Texas between Waco and Austin, to its first outright district title since 1999. The Tigers finished 9-3 overall and 6-0 in the 5A-2 Region III District 11.
“Don’t look at my high school years as the end all,” Ty mentioned. “Just getting started. Have had several schools reach out. Have really stayed focused on my growth and development as a player.”
Ty’s grandparents, great grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins reside in Tucson.
The younger Brown participated in Jedd Fisch’s Arizona camp during the summer and “I felt like I had a very solid camp,” he stated.
Very confident in his ability, Ty Brown also mentioned: “Could see myself at Arizona. … Recruiting is wide open for me right now.”
“We will sit down this off-season and see what camps we want to attend this summer,” he added. “No offers yet and no stars. Excited for a big off-season and looking forward to my senior season. Hoping to be 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds by fall camp.”
The elder Brown became a highly-recruited 6-foot-5 and 260-pound tackle on offense and defense as a senior at Catalina Foothills in 1995. He signed with Ohio State, where his parents earned degrees, and was part of the Buckeyes’ 1996 recruiting class that included receiver David Boston.
He chose Ohio State over Arizona and BYU despite his father Ron being an Arizona season-ticket holder.
Joe Brown played 49 games as a defensive tackle with seven starts with the Buckeyes from 1997 to 2000.
He went from undrafted free agent to an NFL career. In 2003, entering his third season in the league, Brown abruptly left the Seattle Seahawks to pursue another career in the Army to fight in the war against terrorism similar to former ASU and Arizona Cardinals player Pat Tillman and Arizona baseball player Chris Moon leaving their sport prematurely to serve their country.
The elder Brown is the son of a brigadier general in the Air Force and grandson of a POW who died in Korea.
Joe Brown became a special-operations soldier who was deployed to Iraq in 2005 and 2007. While in Baghdad in 2007, he was calling in an airstrike when he fell 30 feet down a stairway shaft. He shredded his calf and struck his head. He woke up in a hospital in Germany with severe bleeding in his brain and was sent home for rehabilitation, which included being able to speak again.
He turned to a career in parks and recreation that included developing programs for wounded veterans and people with disabilities
His four-year stint as the Kileen (Texas) Executive Director of Recreation Services ended in July. He is now a leadership consultant with Solutions 21, a business-management consultant firm.
Ty draws his toughness on the field from his father’s background in football and serving in the military.
“I think I’d offer a college program a guy who loves the game, is tough, athletic (and) a leader who is big, long and athletic,” he stated. “Sounds weird to say this but this season my non-throwing hand was cut badly prior to halftime. Once they knew I had no broken bones I asked the medical team to stitch it up as my team needed me. Twelve stitches later, I re-entered the game and played.”
In another week, after suffering from a bad case of the flu, he ultimately played despite not being at full strength. He led his team on an 80-yard drive in 42 seconds that set up a game-winning field goal that clinched the district championship.
Joe Brown’s vision while attending Catalina Foothills was playing at Ohio State because he was born in Columbus. Military life brought the family to Tucson.
Former Ohio State assistant Lovie Smith, who went on to coach in the NFL and is now the head coach of the Houston Texans, noticed Brown at a Ohio State camp when he was attending Catalina Foothills.
“Lovie Smith came up and asked, ‘Is Ohio State recruiting you?’ I said no, and he said, ‘We are now,'” Joe told ElevenWarriors.com, a Ohio State fan Web site. “It was outstanding. To play for Ohio State, there is no better place in college football. I definitely showed up as a kid and had a lot of growing to do when I left. It was an outstanding experience for me across for the board.”
Ty Brown is not as geared toward playing with Ohio State as his father was coming out of Catalina Foothills.
“I want to go somewhere that invests in their players,” Ty stated.
Keep an eye on Ty Brown and his development into his senior year. Would be something else — wouldn’t it? — if his grandfather’s season tickets to Arizona games allows him to watch his grandson play at Arizona Stadium.
SAM BESKIND PLAYING AT COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
After playing four years at Stanford, Sam Beskind is a graduate transfer at NCAA Division II Colorado School of Mines.
Beskind, a Catalina Foothills alum who is a 6-foot-4 guard, is averaging 13.3 points and 5.7 rebounds for the 6-0 Orediggers.
He earned a master’s degree in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford and was Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2021-22.
He is now a Humanitarian Engineering / Advanced Energy Systems (M.S.) student at Colorado School of Mines.
TANQUE VERDE LINEMAN JACK ENDEAN HEADED TO OKLAHOMA STATE EARLY
Former Salpointe and Tanque Verde offensive tackle Jack Endean mentioned to me last week that he has completed his graduation requirements at Tanque Verde and will enroll at Oklahoma State in January with the plan to compete in spring practice with the Cowboys.
Endean, 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds, is a three-star prospect according to 247 Sports. He received scholarship offers from Arizona and Cal and visited Michigan State, Michigan and SMU during the recruiting process.
Former Arizona lineman Charlie Dickey, the offensive line coach at Oklahoma State, swayed him to Stillwater, Okla.
BOURGUET SUPPORTS MARANA IN PLAYOFFS AFTER PLAYING AT ARIZONA STADIUM
Trenton Bourguet and his brother Coben, who played together at Marana and are now with the Arizona State football program, watched Trenton’s alma mater play Notre Dame Prep in Scottsdale in the 5A state playoffs Saturday after the Sun Devils’ 38-35 loss at Arizona Stadium (Coben transferred to Salpointe with brother Treyson before graduating).
The Bourguets have served as mentors to some of Phillip Steward’s players at Marana, including senior prolific-passing quarterback Elijah Joplin and senior receiver/cornerback Sam Brown.
Joplin’s 2,987 yards passing this season is three yards more than Bourguet’s most productive season in yards during his Marana career from 2015-18. Bourguet passed for 2,984 yards as a junior in the 2017 season.
Bourguet’s numbers in his four-year career (40 games) at Marana: 443 of 644 for 7,612 yards with 86 touchdowns and 23 interceptions.
Joplin’s stats from his three-year varsity career (25 games) with the Tigers: 436 of 595 for 6,074 yards with 63 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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