Kendrick Brown has spent a lot of his time back in Meridian at Bonita Lakes.

After colleges were shut down and the NCAA canceled all spring sports due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Alcorn State receiver was sent home with just three practices under his belt — practices that, he said, were quite basic.

“We were just running plays without pads. That was about all we did,” Brown said. “We didn’t get too deep with our spring.”

Having been back in The Queen City since his spring season was halted, Brown said he’s been trying to continue his speed training in preparation for his sophomore campaign with the Braves. He added that he was ready to get on the gridiron and battle with his teammates.  

“I was really excited and was ready to get into the spring and see what I can do on the field,” he said. “I was looking forward to competing against some of the new guys and some of the older guys and just cement myself as one of the starters on the team.”  

A 2018 Meridian High School graduate, Brown caught 40 passes his senior year with the Wildcats for 814 yards and nine touchdowns and made The Meridian Star’s Premier Preps football team. He caught two passes for 19 yards in his first season at Alcorn State.

The 6-foot-2 wideout said while he’s been working on his speed, the Braves’ strength coach has instructed him and other players to take it easy on weight training as they were unable to complete their offseason regimen on campus. 

“He didn’t want us to push it with weight training,” Brown said. “So we’ve been doing a lot of speed training.”

He’s also continued to learn the X’s and O’s, which has included viewing PowerPoints sent from coaches, and has watched film. He said not getting to take what he learns and immediately putting it to practice on the field could affect the team flow, but he hopes everyone on the offense will know their responsibilities. 

“It’s a big change because in football, it’s an 11-man game, so if one person doesn’t know what the other 10 are doing, it’s not going to make things work,” he said. “Chemistry-wise it might set us back, but as long as we know the plays and everybody knows what they’re doing, and they’re doing their individual assignments correctly, it should make the team work better.”

Even though he’s learning remotely, Brown said he’s still able to retain information at a quick pace.

“I’ve been keeping up with the playbook and going along,” he said. “It still might set me back a little bit, but I feel like I’m a fast learner and can go right along.”

This story is part of The Meridian Star’s ongoing series “Sidelined Standouts,” covering college athletes from the local area during the coronavirus outbreak.