Browne talks about offer from Champs | Prep sports news
Published 5:36 pm Wednesday, February 1, 2012
While the class of 2012 marked signing day by inking National Letters of Intent on Wednesday, one local 2013 prospect spoke with the leader of the reigning National Champions of college football.
Alabama, which recently pulled offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier from the University of Washington to serve the same role in Tuscaloosa, extended a scholarship offer to Skyline quarterback Max Browne on Wednesday when the Spartans’ signal-caller spoke on the phone with the Crimson Tide’s head coach, Nick Saban.
I caught up with Browne (pictured above during the quarterfinal round of the playoffs, photo credit: Chad Coleman) at the Skyline signing ceremony today, where Tina Vargas, Nicole Candioglos, Dom Randle, Drew Matthews and running back Damian Greene all signed their LOIs.
Here’s what he had to say:
SAMMAMISH REPORTER: Can you talk about how the offer came down from Alabama and coach Saban?
MAX BROWNE: A lot of Washington fans know the whole connection with coach Nussmeier heading to Alabama and taking the same position there. Our relationship was close and I talked to him right when he got the job and he said, “hey, we’re still going to recruit you, I’m still going to be here.” Today I called him and he handed the phone over to coach Saban and I was able to get on the phone with him and he basically just said “you’ve probably seen our program before, National Championships, great academics all that kind of stuff” and they extended the offer to me. It’s obviously great knowing the best college football team in the nation offered but the process still has a long way to go.
REPORTER: Is there any other college football coach you are as close with as you are with coach Nussmeier?
BROWNE: No, he was definitely the closest. One of the reasons is he’s very close with my head coach, coach Taylor. He’s been through these halls a bunch recruiting Kasen (Williams) and Jake (Heaps) and now myself. He’s definitely the coach I’ve been closest with since he’s been recruiting me since my freshman year.
REPORTER: Do you plan on taking a trip down to campus to check out Alabama?
BROWNE: Yeah, eventually. I think I’m going to take a trip down to Oklahoma, maybe head to Alabama and Arkansas.
REPORTER: In terms of football, Alabama pretty much sells itself…
BROWNE: Exactly. There is a reason people are so excited about this offense and like I said before they are the best team in the nation.
REPORTER: Can you give me a top-five as of today?
BROWNE: To be honest, I don’t have a top five. Some schools I’m looking to check out soon that I haven’t checked out already are Alabama, Oklahoma, maybe Oklahoma State but I haven’t started talking with them yet, and Arkansas. Those schools kind of stick out at this point and they are the schools that I want to check out and intrigue me at this point. Being a 2013 kid the recruiting process really picks up after this.
REPORTER: Do you anticipate announcing where you will play before the season begins?
BROWNE: That’s what I plan to do, before football season during the summer or something like that.
