MADISON- A late arrival to the world of varsity high school football, Jaylen Brown quickly learned the speed and strength of the elite players who make up the sport and grew to become among those gifted few student-athletes at James Clemens. Brown recently signed a scholarship to play for the Missouri Tigers of the Southeastern Conference and now is listed about the top 2024 recruits in the United States.

The James Clemens defensive lineman has been included in the list of 247/Sports and ranked No. 152 in the country. At his defensive end position the recruiting organization has Brown listed No. 25 and 12^th overall recruit in Alabama.

“I’m the freak on the defensive line as I get off the line very quickly with power and I have good footwork,” said Brown.

The 6-foot-6, 242-pound athlete posted 66 tackles on the season for James Clemens (7-4) in 2023 with nine of those tackles for a loss with seven quarterback sacks. Brown did not play varsity for the Jets until his junior season. He joined the team as a sophomore after playing at Liberty Middle School.

“I did not know much about recruiting when all of this started as more than 20 schools reached out to me,” said Brown. “I settled on Missouri because I feel they have a good coaching staff and athletic facility. I chose Missouri over Houston, Maryland and Arkansas State.”

The Class 7A First-Team All-State selection was chosen to represent Alabama in the annual Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic. He has posted a 4.8 in the 40 and has a tremendous 82-inch wingspan.