HOLLYWOOD, Florida — Shannon James looks over Boggs Field with a grin. A young boy, around age 16, jogs across the field as James and her husband, Mark, watch from a distance.
“That’s the next Marquise right there,” Shannon says softly.
Shannon, the mother of Oklahoma standout wide receiver Marquise Brown, has seen this before — a young unknown boy working out by himself in a town called Hollywood, looking to fulfill a dream.
Roughly 50 yards away from Boggs Field, through an alley, sits the house Brown was raised. A small, two-bedroom light-tan home with a gray roof. Less than four miles away is Chaminade Madonna College Preparatory, where Brown spent his final year of high school. Six miles from Chaminade Madonna sits Hard Rock Stadium, where Brown could potentially leave one of his final marks on college football when Oklahoma faces No. 1 Alabama in the College Football Playoff at the Orange Bowl.
Three fields, one hometown. And now Brown is about to be among Oklahoma elite.
“It’s like he’s come full circle,” Shannon said. “All the way from little league, and now he’s playing just a few streets down. It’s like a dream. Who would’ve thought?”
Brown has put his hometown on the map after being given the nickname “Hollywood” for his flashy and boisterous play with the Sooners. He’s an unlikely star, coming through the junior college ranks and being underestimated at each level due to his small — 5-foot-10, 168-pound — stature.
But Brown has become a phenomenon via his speed, hands and big-play ability. He’s considered one of the top playmakers in the country and is expected to be a top pick in the 2019 NFL Draft if he forgos his senior season at OU. From Boggs Field to Chaminade Madonna and now the Orange Bowl, Brown has proven people wrong his entire life. And Saturday, in arguably the biggest game of his life, he has the chance to do it just miles from the city he’s made famous.
“Everybody in the city supports him,” said Shanice, Brown’s older sister. “We see so many things that aren’t so great in our city and there are so many other directions he could have went. It’s just a blessing for him to be a positive role model. This community loves him.
“For the game to be just down the street from where we grew up, it’s surreal.”
2311 N. 23rd Ave.
Then-junior wide receiver Marquise Brown shows off his grill after the game against Baylor on Sept. 29, 2018.
Twenty palm trees separate Boggs Field at Hollywood Police Athletic League (PAL) from Highway 822. Two yellow benches sit on the home sidelines, a pair of three-row bleachers and a small press box sits close behind.
Sixteen years ago, a 6-year-old Brown sat on one of those yellow benches, waiting his turn. Shannon sat nearby in the bleachers behind him. One of his Hollywood Eagles teammates went down with an injury, leaving his coach with no choice but to finally put Brown in.
“No one could touch him,” Shannon recalls. “He ran circles around that field… Once he got the ball, no one thought about his size anymore.”
Born at five pounds, six ounces, Brown has always been a small kid. His size is what kept him on that yellow bench and what kept him from receiving few Division I offers out of high school. He beats defenses with his speed, earning his original nickname, Jet, at a young age.
“The first day of practice I was like ‘Boy, this kid is small,’” said Quincy Bullard, who coached Brown from ages 10-14. “But the kid’s work ethic was unmatched.”
Brown used to walk to Boggs Field every day with a ball and cones in his hands. He spent the majority of his time at Hollywood PAL, a place that attempts to keep kids off the streets. In 2016, 574 violent crimes were committed in Hollywood.
He would do drills for hours by himself. To this day he still trains at Boggs Field, even with NFL star wide receiver Antonio Brown — his cousin on his father’s side — last summer.
He’s always known he’s never going to be the biggest or strongest player on the field, but he will be the fastest.
“Small kid, big heart,” Bullard said. “And the speed that he is? I’ve never seen that before.”
When Brown was young, he begged his mom for the latest gear. New socks, new shoes, new wristbands — you name it, Brown wanted it.
He wanted to stand out — a familiar quality OU fans have come to know via the golden grill he now wears during games today. But he’s always remained humble. Off the field, he isn’t seeking attention. He’s labeled as a “prankster” or a “goofball” by his family and friends, and never one to brag about his game. He’s a quiet kid, often not saying much in media scrums or at the podium.
His game speaks for him and always has.
“They always say, ‘You can’t judge a book by its cover,’” Shannon said. “Well, that’s Marquise.”
500 E. Chaminade Dr.
Sophomore wide receiver Marquise Brown shows off his grill before the Bedlam game against Oklahoma State Nov. 4.
Brown spent his first three years of high school at South Broward in Hollywood. But after little team success and little playing time, he decided to transfer to Chaminade Madonna College Preparatory — a Catholic school in Hollywood — for his senior season.
Tyler Tate remembers the first time he saw Brown at Chaminade Madonna.
“I came in the locker room one day and he was sitting on the bench. They told me we got a new wide receiver... I looked at him, he was small, quiet, 130 pounds — didn’t think much of him,” Tate said, who was the wide receivers and running backs coach then. “But that same day, when he hit the field, I knew he wasn’t what I thought.”
Brown was electric his senior year. Chaminade Madonna was rebuilding that season and he was the lone bright spot. Tate recalls fans cheering for the other team to score just so Brown could return kicks.
“He’s the best damn kick returner I’ve ever seen,” Tate said. “He’s was a kid from day one that I knew he could play at any level.”
Still, Brown’s recruitment was frustrating to Tate. He sent Brown’s tape to hundreds of coaches at all levels — Division I, II, III and NAIA — and every single one asked the same question:
How big is he?
“People didn’t want to take a risk on his size,” Tate said, who is now the offensive coordinator at Chaminade Madonna. “No one wanted to take a 130-pound receiver when you got Julio Jones-looking receivers out here. No one ever said ‘You’re not good enough,’ they said ‘You’re not big enough.’”
Despite receiving little recruiting attention, Brown committed to Utah State in 2015. Due to unspecified reasons, he never made it to Logan, Utah. He ended up at the College of the Canyons, a junior college in Santa Clarita, California, nearly 3,000 miles away from home.
Everyone knows his story from there — working at Six Flags to pay rent while becoming one of the most highly-coveted receivers in junior college.
Oklahoma and Lincoln Riley came knocking after experiencing similar success in another juco receiver Dede Westbrook. Brown and his family fell in love with the Sooners, picking Norman over Morgantown, West Virginia — his two biggest offers.
Through it all, Brown stayed determined. It’s always been his dream to play Division I football, and he wasn’t going to let his size or anyone else get in his way.
“At one point, I thought maybe he should just go to a regular college and not play,” Shanice said. “But he was so determined to go D-I. He stuck to his guns… And look at him now.”
347 Don Shula Dr.
Sophomore wide receiver Marquise Brown smiles during pregame warm ups Dec. 2.
Brown’s time at Oklahoma has been one for the books, becoming one of the most prolific receivers in recent Sooner history. He’s a big reason why the Sooners will be playing just a few streets away from his hometown.
Nearing the end of his second season in Norman, Brown sits at sixth all-time in OU receiving yards (2,413) and leads the school in yards per reception (18.28) during a career since 1988 (Keith Jackson, 23.66). This season, Brown has caught 75 passes for 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns despite being injured for the part of the season.
Brown’s success has made him a celebrity of sorts in Hollywood. Kids swarm him when he comes home, calling out his nickname. His grill along with his new necklace — which he debuted against West Vriginia this season — that reads “HOLLY5WOOD” has become a part of his brand that’s replicated by many fans.
Marquise Brown’s got some new bling. It reads “HOLLY5WOOD” (I think) pic.twitter.com/3Omy14WOiz
— caitlyn (@caitlynepes) November 23, 2018
None of this — his success or fame — comes as a surprise to those who know him best. From that yellow bench at Boggs Field to the bench in the Chaminade Madonna locker room, Brown’s friends and family knew he was destined for greatness.
“It makes me cry sometimes when I think about it,” Shanice said. “He’s an inspiration to me because sometimes you may have dreams that you think are too big or have roadblocks keeping you from your dreams, and most people would give up. But he didn’t.”
Despite getting injured in the Big 12 Championship, Brown is expected to play on Saturday and practiced Wednesday — overcoming, it seems, one last roadblock.
Shannon says they expect a big crowd Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium, with around 12 of Brown’s closest family and friends attending the game while the rest tailgate in the parking lot.
As Shannon and her husband drove around Hollywood, and Hard Rock Stadium sat in the background, she had that same face she had when watching that boy jog at Boggs Field.
“Not a whole lot of people in Hollywood watched football before,” Shannon said with that same grin. “But they do now.”
