Unable to practice in pads, Jamal Brown spent much of last Thursday’s Southwest Bulldogs eighth-grade practice sitting comfortably on a dummy bag. Brown passed the time in the hot sun by closely watching practice and making his teammates laugh.

The pleasant-natured Brown could not participate because he had not completed three days of practice with a helmet. Brown, though, had good reason for missing the Bulldogs first three days of practice.

He was visiting family in Detroit.

Brown left in June and passed the time with his family by swimming and hanging out this summer. Brown also got to hang out at an All-Pro camp with his father, former University of Kansas and NFL star Gilbert Brown.

“It was fun. I liked it,” Brown said.

Gilbert Brown’s camp, which was held in Milwaukee, provided inner-city kids three free meals a day and an opportunity to receive instruction about playing football. And by the luck of the draw, Jamal was on his father’s team.

“Our team was the Ruff Riders,” Gilbert Brown said. “Jamal was the center and nose guard, and wouldn’t you know it, we won the championship.”

That wasn’t the first time Brown had been exposed to a championship team.

Brown’s father participated in a pair of Super Bowls as a member of the Green Bay Packers. Gilbert’s team won the first match-up with the New England Patriots but fell short a year later against the Denver Broncos.

Jamal was at that second Super Bowl but said he was too young then to remember much of the game. He did, however, have fond memories of sitting in the sky box at Lambeau Field, hanging out in the Packers locker room and meeting Brett Favre.

Brown has more recent memories of being the starting nose guard last year on Southwest’s undefeated seventh-grade championship team. During the season he recorded three sacks, two fumble recoveries and was selected to the All-Star team. This year Brown has set similar goals for himself and the team.

“My goal is to get past the center to the quarterback,” Brown said. “And hopefully win every game.”

Brown expects to be a solid contributor for the Bulldogs this year, but Southwest coach Chris Marshall sees Brown bringing much more than that.

Having watched game tape on Brown from last year, Marshall liked what he saw and said Brown would be a great addition to this year’s team.

“He gets a good push up the middle,” Marshall said. “He played pretty well last year. I think he’ll help us a lot on defense.”

Although Brown couldn’t take part in any contact drills during practice, he did run sprints with the team. Brown quickly became aware of the differences from seventh-grade practices to eighth-grade practices.

“We run a lot more,” Brown said.

Even though Brown does not like to run, his teammates cheered him on, and he reciprocated during each sprint as they ran back to the starting line.

After conditioning drills and the on-field practice was over, the team went back to the locker room, changed and gathered around a chalkboard for chalk talk.

Coach Marshall’s meetings diagram the team’s plays on the chalkboard. He then asks the players questions ranging from formations, player responsibilities and which defender is usually lined up closest to the football at the beginning of the play. And for the latter question, the answer came from a likely source.

“Nose guard,” Jamal replied.

And when Coach Marshall asked who on defense is usually the best tackler on the team?

Brown enthusiastically responded, “Nose guard!” to the chuckle of his coaches and teammates.

“Jamal is a lot like me,” Gilbert said. “I like to joke around and have fun, but we both know there’s time to play and time to work.”

Working hard is something that his parents have tried to instill in Jamal. His mother, Sheryl, brings him home from practice, but Jamal still has work to do at home. He has household chores like vacuuming, cleaning his room and the kitchen and doing the dishes.

“He knows nothing’s for free,” Sheryl said.

His mother noted that hard work, God, church and family are all very important in Jamal’s life. And his father noted the importance of Jamal having such a wonderful mother.

“He’s got one of the best mothers in the world,” his father said. “All I want Jamal to do is be a good kid, get a great education and go to a good college.”

Though Brown thought his son could potentially be a better football player than he was, he said he would support Jamal in whatever career path he chooses. And no matter what career that is, Jamal’s future appears bright.

“Jamal’s got a good solid foundation,” Sheryl said. “All the way from Detroit to Kansas, we are all very proud of Jamal.”