Making the best of a situation is something that Wharton’s Justin Brown understands completely. While patience may be a virtue when waiting for your chance on the depth chart, all of the patience in the world does no good if you can’t produce when the time comes. Brown (6-0/151) was MVP of the wide receivers group at Ignite last January beating out some talented–and nationally-touted talent at that–to win the award. Brown, originally from from Allentown, Pennsylvania when he was seven years-old is a soft-spoken “yes-sir, no-sir” young man that simply ready to step-up and be the guy for the ‘Cats following the departure of Tre Dukes to USF.

Limited in his touches this past season due to the nature of Wharton’s run-first (and justifiably so) offense–and due to the nature of Dukes’ presence on the field, the junior’s career best came in a 20-0 shutout loss to Sickles when he caught five passes for 62-yards. The touches will increase this season, and even though he’ll need to build a confidence level with his QB Bryce Martin and his coaches–his own personal confidence level in his skills is something that shouldn’t be worried about. The proof was existent at the beginning of January to go out and quietly compete against quality competition and let the chips fall where they may.

“I like to think that and I guess it’s just my way of competing against guys that are bigger-faster-stronger than me.” said Brown. “They have advantages, but I also have advantages in areas that they have weaknesses in. I do what I know how to do and I just compete and try to finish every time. If I have to step outside of my “boundaries”–I will, but I just do what I’ve got to do.”

Wide receivers can be fickle creatures by nature. It’s not opinion, but fact. Things that wouldn’t effect other players at positions tend to effect receivers exponentially. Things like, getting the ball and the opportunity to make plays. They’re entertainers in many cases. All of that is nice in theory, but Brown knew the reality was that Dukes was going to be the first option. When the Sickles game allowed him to get the chance to shine, Brown stepped up and did his job.

“I thought it was just another regular game–I didn’t think I was going to get that many looks from my quarterback, but when it happened–I sure did live up to the moment. First catch I was like–okay, and then the second catch is when it hit me that he was starting to look at me, now. It was a great feeling and I found myself breaking down and doing the little extra things that night to get myself open.”

Even though he knows he’ll have to earn it, he opportunity to become Wharton’s number-one on the depth chart for the spring and 2016 fall season is staring right at him. With that in mind, he’s prepping for that opportunity and trying to keep a logical perspective in the process.

“I definitely am.” said Brown. “No matter what–whether it’s playing sports or going to work at a desk everyday–no matter what, you’ve got to do what you have to do and be the best at it–football’s my passion and my love. I know that I’ve got to work for everything if I want to get out of it what I want.”

And when he wants something, you better be prepared to battle for it. He’s not going to announce his presence with trumpets and a ticker-tape parade, he simply going to bust his butt and make the decision hard for those that have to make it. “I saw Daquon Green and some other big receivers there–and not that I doubted myself–but I thought those guys would get the MVP, but once we got on the field, I guess the coaches saw how bad I wanted it.”

Brown’s “other” sport is a common one for this time of season for football players–which is track and field. Although many football players simply use the time of year to work on their form for the fall, Brown’s approach is based on a similar love and dedication for Friday nights.

“I’m in track season right now–and I do long jump, triple jump and high jump and I don’t do it just to get faster–I’m out here doing it as an actual sport and love for it and I enjoy it a lot.” said Brown. His personal best in the long jump is 19’3″, while his high jump is at 5’10” with a triple jump of 41-feet. Needless to say, he staring at options at the collegiate level if he looks hard enough, because his personal belief is that he can do them both. “I definitely can do both [at the next level]–and I love both. Football is first no matter what, though.”

The best part about Brown is how his demeanor and tone change when asked the important stuff–such as his interests in the classroom. Without hesitation, Brown responds: “My favorite class is science. I love science. I want to be a Zoologist because I love studying animals and I really want to travel the world finding new animals and just study everything about them.”

There is a perfect synergy when he responds to the question of his favorite animal to study. It’s perfect because he reveals a little bit of his secret to his success on the football field. One of the common characteristics of great biologists and zoologists is they understand in order to know your species–you have to be your species–you have to think like them. “I love wolves, but my favorite in particular is the red wolf. Just because red is my favorite color and they’re not usually in packs, they’re usually singled-out and whatever they do they just do it with results.”

Better than his talent on the football field–better than his passion for animals–and better than his favorite animal–is his AH-HA! moment as to when he knew what he wanted to do beyond the hash marks. From the sounds of it, if this ‘Cat has his way at Wharton, he’ll be leader of the “pride” in more ways than one.

“Funny story–my first time watching Lion King is when it really hit me–there’s a part where Mufasa tells Simba about the life cycle and that even though they eat their prey–the prey eats them in the same way because the lions when they die decompose in the grass and then in-turn the prey eats the grass. It got me interested so right after the movie I started looking up lions and it’s just amazing how vicious they can be and it’s just amazing what the whole animal kingdom is about in general.”