THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 26, 1995 TAG: 9510260582
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Whatever type of offense a football team runs, Devonne Brown can drive it.
In the last year and a half, the Norfolk native and new Hampton Roads Sharks quarterback has been behind the wheel for three different teams.
``It's like driving a car,'' Sharks president and offensive coordinator T.J. Morgan said. ``He was driving one kind and got in another. You just have to adjust.''
Last fall, Brown played with the Peninsula Poseidons, who belong to the Mason-Dixon League along with the Sharks. Several months ago, he caught on with the Darmstadt Diamonds of the German-American Football League. Following the completion of the Diamonds' season, the 27-year-old Brown found himself quarterbacking the Sharks.
In the two weeks he's been with the Sharks, Brown has thrown for 396 yards and two touchdowns while leading the team in a pair of victories that have given Hampton Roads a 10-1 overall record and a Mason-Dixon League-leading 8-1 mark heading into Saturday's regular-season finale at the Center for Effective Learning field against Lynchburg.
A friendship with a Sharks player led to Brown's coming to Hampton Roads.
``I'm friends with (defensive lineman) Rodney Baylor and we kept in touch while I was in Germany,'' said Brown. ``I liked what I was hearing about the Sharks and how the new management had changed things.''
After finishing his season in Germany, Brown asked Morgan for a chance to work out with the team and stay in playing shape. The last thing he was thinking about was being the starting quarterback.
But starting quarterback Kevin Johnson had been missing practices because of family and work obligations and the team has a rule - no practice, no play. The No. 2 quarterback, Demitrius Delgado, has military commitments, and quarterback No. 3 Tim Carr plays more as a receiver.
``I figured a backup role might come from it and that was fine with me,'' said Brown, who has aspirations of making a Canadian Football League or Arena League team. ``I was very shocked at the decision (to start me), because I'd never have thought I would be playing in the first week.''
Brown, a residential counselor who likes to work with children, had uneventful high school and collegiate careers at Lake Taylor and Norfolk State University and played with the old Tidewater Sharks for two years before joining Peninsula.
``The Poseidons coach knew a guy with the German league and that's how I got hooked up with that,'' said Brown, who had a CFL tryout with the Cleveland Thunderbolts two years ago. ``I played with Darmstadt for the last six games into the semifinals and they paid for a place to live and a car to drive while I was there.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PAUL AIKEN, THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
In two weeks with the Sharks, Devonne Brown has thrown for 396 yards
and two touchdowns en route to two victories.
by CNB