Brown making his presence felt at Army

Bay Shore native Malcolm Brown had high hopes when he was playing football at Islip High School.

Chief among them was to excel on the field and then move on to a bigtime football program to continue his career.

Brown has achieved that goal and more. The sophomore running back, who had 46 yards rushing and in Army's 35-21 win over Duke Saturday, has become a key member of the Black Knights backfield.

His journey to West Point was anything but normal.

"I definitely wasn't thinking about going to Army in high school . . . Not at all," Brown said. "I was hoping to play for a Division I school."

But after a visit to the campus and some encouragement from his father, Roscoe, a retired firefighter, Brown was convinced he was destined to become a cadet.

"My friends wondered why I chose Army," Brown said. "But once I told them it was a Division I team, they thought it was cool."

Football isn't the only thing on Brown's mind. He has grand plans upon his graduation from West Point.

"I want to become an officer in the Army," he said. "My father is a retired firefighter and I've always admired that. The Army is a great place to get discipline and develop skills."

Learning what it takes to become an Army Cadet hasn't been for Brown. In fact, he thought about calling it quits while at Army prepatory school two years ago.

His day starts with a 6 a.m. wakeup call. He then has classes from 7:30 to noon. He gets an hour for lunch, but then its back to class from 1 p.m. to 2:50.

Brown's day doesn't end there, because he has football practice from 3:30 to 7:30.

"There isn't a lot of time to do anything else," Brown said. "After practice I head back to the room to study. And you can't miss classes."

Brown said freshman year on campus was really trying.

"You had to walk around with your hands cupped and you couldn't talk to anyone," he said. "And you had to greet the upperclassmen."

Brown got through his freshman campaign and says he's "used to it" now.

The Army football tradition was one of the main things that kept Brown motivated.

Although the Black Knights aren't a factor in the national championship chase, the annual Army-Navy game is something Brown said he wished everyone could experience.

"I didn't play in the game last year," he said, "but it was amazing seeing that large crowd and so much support for us."