“He’s ready for this. And you would expect him to be.”
Still, there are adjustments. Brown is learning new terminology for plays and passing routes he’s run for years. He’s still transitioning — he moves into a new apartment Friday. He’s also still dealing with fan fallout from his decision.
Some Penn State fans have called him a “ship jumper” and worse. His Twitter profile page still prominently features him in a Penn State uniform, inspiring death threats via the social media network. Brown expresses no concern for his safety.
“You can’t take Twitter too seriously,” Brown said. “At the end of the day … I’m here to play football and to graduate.”
He will be taking classes with credits that transfer. He expects to graduate in January with a Penn State degree in media studies.
“No disrespect to Oklahoma,” Brown said. “I’m sure this is a great university, but I just felt like it meant a lot to get that Penn State degree.”
Before the NCAA sanctions, he was staying at State College. Now he’s adjusting well to life in Norman.
“At the end of the day, I think everyone wants to win and build good relationships and that’s important to me too,” Brown said. “I’m a competitor. I want to go out and do my best.”
His old roommate, running back Silas Redd, is the most high profile of the Penn State transfers. His arrival at USC is being billed as a key to the national title hopes. In Norman, Brown is seen as an answer for an OU receiving corps lacking experience beyond Kenny Stills and the suspended Jaz Reynolds.
Still, even while representing new universities, Brown says they still are what they became at Penn State.
“I just talked to (Silas) last night. I just checked up on him. I talked to Derrick Thomas just to see how he’s doing,” Brown said of the junior running back who transferred to Marshall University.
“I’m always going to talk to them. We’ve already built the bond for three years. Nothing’s going to change.”
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