Brown won't forget meaning of W.O.

For most Tennessee football players, Florida looms larger on the schedule than any other game, in or out of the SEC.

But count Wes Brown among those who still believe Alabama is the biggest game the Vols will play all season.

"Every game is special, of course," the sophomore defensive end says of No. 20 Tennessee's trip to Alabama on Saturday. "But it's one that I have marked, being from Alabama."

Brown did, in fact, grow up behind enemy lines in Athens, Ala., a town of 19,000 about 15 miles from the Tennessee state line.

Brown inherited the Volunteers from his parents, who grew up just a few miles north of the Alabama border and attended Loretto High School.

"Before I was born, they moved to Alabama," he said. "They kind of rubbed off on me, and I became a Tennessee fan."

So the Alabama game is special for that reason alone.

But it's even more special - and much more emotional - because of what happened the last time Tennessee traveled to Tuscaloosa.

The Sunday before Tennessee's 2005 game in Tuscaloosa, UT defensive coordinator John Chavis told Brown he'd be on UT's 70-man dress roster, no small feat for a true freshman.

Brown would be back in his home state, only a few months after he went Benedict Arnold on the Crimson Tide.

But Brown, who received scholarship offers from nearly every SEC school in addition to Tennessee, only had eyes for the Vols.

His father, Jeff, remembers the first college football game the two attended, a Peyton Manning-led win over Alabama at Legion Field in Birmingham.

"Peyton got up and directed the band," Jeff said. "Wes told me then, 'Dad, I'm going to play for Tennessee.' "

Only the left-handed Brown figured his best chance would be as a pitcher or a first baseman.

So did his dad, until Athens High football coach Allen Creasy sent out a highlight tape following Brown's junior year.

Brown suddenly had football scholarship offers to match those he'd gotten to play baseball.

"All of a sudden it just went crazy," Jeff says.

Tennessee was among the last to offer, but it was worth the wait.

In February 2005, he became the first player from Athens High to sign with the Vols.

His decision brought joy to the two or three fellow classmates bold enough to claim Tennessee as their favorite school.

And, of course, Brown's family was elated.

That included Wes's grandfather, Bill Brown, better known as W.O. around the small Tennessee town of Five Points.

W.O. wasn't the biggest fan, but he watched football games and always rooted for the Vols, Wes says.

When Christmas or W.O.'s birthday rolled around, Wes always made sure his grandfather had a brand new Tennessee cap.

"He always wore a Tennessee hat," Brown said. "I've never really heard him talk much about football, but you knew he loved Tennessee."

He loved watching his grandson play, too, rarely missing one of Brown's high school games.

When Brown got word he'd be making the trip to Tuscaloosa in 2005, W.O. was too sick to attend.

The good news still was something to share with his grandfather, and W.O. would most likely listen to the game with his wife, Edith, on the radio in Five Points.

But five days before the Alabama game, W.O. passed away.

Instead of spending the weekend in Alabama, Brown left his teammates to attend his grandfather's funeral. That Saturday, Brown and his father watched the game - a 6-3 Tennessee loss - on television.

"My granddaddy's a great man," Brown says now. "That week was tough. The football didn't matter to me at that point. This is family. Family's a lot more important than football. That was a tough week."

Tough is how Jeff Brown describes it, too.

Wes was on the brink of living out the promise he made years before at Legion Field, only to lose it - and his grandfather - in the same week.

"He was actually going to get to start experiencing that part of it," Jeff said. "It was a big disappointment for him not to be able to go. That was a tough week.

"I can't put it into words. I don't know how you do it. It was emotional."

There will be plenty of emotion Saturday, too.

In his first trip, Brown will do more than just dress out. He'll be an active participant.

In six games this season, Brown has nine tackles as a reserve defensive end and on special teams.

Brown's parents will be in attendance - in the Tennessee section, no less, a first for them at an Alabama game. Eight more friends and family members will join them.

But there will be the conspicuous absence of W.O., who died two years ago today.

"This time of the year, it's certainly tough," Brown said. "If I could be half the man he was - and of course my dad, too - I'd say I've been pretty good, done something pretty special.

"I certainly try to be like him, because he was a great guy. I'd give anything if he could be here today. Certainly I'm going to give it all I got, and certainly he'll be in my mind."

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.