For 49ers' Ji'Ayir Brown, Super Bowl dreams began on New Jersey football high school fields
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) – For one NFL rookie playing in this year's Super Bowl, the journey to Las Vegas started with suiting up on football fields across New Jersey.
Ji'ayir Brown grew up in Trenton and was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers this year in the third round.
An injury gave him a chance to start, and now he's playing in the biggest game of them all.
For Brown, who is 24, the bright lights of Super Bowl LVIII came into focus under the Friday night lights at Trenton Central High School.
Brown's coaches said it's not hard to see why this rookie, who got his start in junior college and worked his way up to play at Penn State, has now become the team's starting safety.
"His junior year, I was really looking at him, like 'Wow, he could be special,'" Trenton Central High School Assistant Coach Chris Franco said.
Former head coach Greg Hyslop also said Brown showed an early gift for the game.
"Probably our first scrimmage… I told him, 'Here's how we're going to play this specific coverage, you're reading this.' And high school kids, they don't always focus on the right thing. And first play of that scrimmage, he did exactly what I said to a T, better than I thought it could have been done," Hyslop said.
Trenton Central athletic trainer Poppy Sanderson says Brown's desire to remain true to his roots is what makes him different. Brown, or "Tig" as he's better known, returns every summer to run the local football camp, where he also once participated
"It means a lot, you know, everyone comes and talks to him and he gives them encouraging words," Sanderson said.
Joy Ingram, Brown's mom and No. 1 fan, has never missed a game. She'll be there in Las Vegas, too.
"I'll be nervous, this is the best of the best right here," Ingram said. "This is for everything."
Ingram said come Feb. 11, she'll tell her son the same advice she gives before every game – something she hopes he'll carry with him, both on and off the field.
"I always told my kids, you don't have to be the best on the team, just let them know you was there," she said. "And that's going to be the same speech, let them know you was there."