CJ Brown signs with South Florida
South Florida officially added an important piece to its future Wednesday, with the signing of Marietta, Georgia point guard CJ Brown to National Letter Of Intent. Brown helped Kell High School to a 28-2 record and the Georgia Class 5A state title as a junior in 2022-23 while averaging 14 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals.
He chose USF over offers from Georgia, Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, Tulane and others.
While the signing is mostly a formality, considering Brown verbally committed to USF in early August, the Bulls have added to its back court with the three-star guard.
BullsInsider.com spoke with Brown’s parents – Cornelius and Arlene – to get some insight on their son’s recruitment and the relationship Bulls head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim built with the family over the past several years.
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“When he was in ninth grade, he was going to The Walker School and Amir showed interest,” Cornelius said. “I think when he was a sophomore, they had a tournament, could have been in the summer of his sophomore year, they had a tournament at Kennesaw State and Amir watched him play and C had a monster tournament. So, he presented the offer. After that, we saw Amir at other locations, and he followed C throughout the season at some of the high school games and the AAU games. So they had developed a relationship over the over the years.
“We had played in South Carolina [last year], and Amir came and watched every game. He was there, just watching his development and growth, and he was impressed with it. So, he continued to build the relationship. Every so often, he would call and invite us to the [Kennesaw State] games and invite us on campus. And we came on campus a couple of times and went to a couple of games.
“Then when he got to South Florida he offered C and kept the relationship going and built on the relationship. He kept coming to watch C play and invited us on campus.”
The family started an official visit at USF on June 29 and came away so impressed.
“An unbelievable trip,” Cornelius said. “We were very pleased. We had good conversations. We were happy with Amir and C ended up saying it's going to be the choice for him.”
When a recruitment begins it is a very exciting time for the prospect and his family. In Brown’s case, it was a three year process by the time he committed. It’s a process that can often take a toll, in terms of time, energy and stress, not just on the young man but on his family as well.
“It was a constant on the go,” said Cornelius. “We had a lot of colleges calling, a lot of offers, a lot of interests. He had maybe seven or eight schools that were interested that didn't make the offer, but were consistently calling. So, it was a lot. We had a lot of phone calls, we made a couple of unofficial visits. So, it was a lot man, it was very cumbersome, so overwhelming at times, because we were just trying to find the right fit for him and trying to do what's best for him and we were trying to make sure that he was very happy.
“It wasn’t like a business relationship. This was something where it was going to be personal for his growth on and off the court. So, we were able to build that relationship with some of the coaches and C felt strong with Amir. And so that was his choice.”
Among the schools that were heavy in the mix with his son, Cornelius said that his son “really liked Rice. He really liked St. Bonaventure. And I have to say another would be Southern Illinois and Mercer. Of course, we were always partial to Kennesaw State.”
Brown took visits to Furman and Mercer. His father added that before his son committed to the Bulls he was in the process of “scheduling official visits to Tennessee, St. Bonaventure, Southern Illinois, and a couple others.”
Arlene Brown told us that Abdur-Rahim said something to them that no other coach ever said to them.
“He said to us, ‘No matter which coaches reach out to you, just ask them this one question: In the first year of college, when you get into that mode where you're homesick, if things are not going really well, what do they have in place to get you focused on being productive and emotionally take care of you? Just ask the coaches that.’ He said, if the coaches fumble with that question, then you know, it's not an interest in the growth of that athlete. It is more about, hey, you're here produce, produce, produce. So, he said he always took it a step further to make sure that he's guys are mentally well. And they're being able to be in a good headspace to produce on the floor. And that's evident with the three guys that went with him from Kennesaw. They did not hesitate to move along with his program. So, you know, it's about the college, but it's a lot about the Coach.
“That was one of the defining factors for us, because we were like, okay, and actually, we had coaches that we spoke to and we asked that question. And some of them did fumble.”
CJ Brown is an explosive lead guard, can really get downhill and score at the rim. He is a creative finisher, improving perimeter shooter. Brown plays plays with toughness and gives great effort on defense.
The Bulls are not done in the 2024 class.
Abdur-Rahim continues to work on landing his other top priority, Overtime Elite (Ga.) five-star wing Karter Knox, who is part of Abdur-Rahim's push to reinvigorate the program's Bay Area recruiting.
