By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Salisbury senior Dashawn Brown’s only touchdown catch of the 2023 season was called back by a flag, but there are quite a few people who believe the 6-foot-3, 220-pounder can be a fine tight end in college.

“He runs good routes and he’s got great hands,” said Salisbury head coach Clayton Trivett, who frequently called Brown’s number on 2-point conversion plays.

Brown made the most of those opportunities. He had five 2-point catches as a senior.

Brown, who was best known for his work at defensive end for the Hornets, a position where he had 5.5 sacks, 6 tackles for loss and 27 hurries to earn all-conference and all-county honors, has signed with Livingstone College.

“I wanted to stay close to home, just wasn’t ready to go off to school somewhere,” Brown said. “And Livingstone is getting quite a few of  us to stay home.”

JyMikaah Wells, who broke rushing records at Salisbury in 2022, got quite a few carries for the Blue Bears last season. Salisbury senior defensive back Tyree Brown is also part of Livingstone’s 2024 recruiting class.

Brown figures his best game of  his senior year was against Shelby, even though that’s the one game Salisbury lost.

“Maybe I shouldn’t say it was best because we lost, but that was the toughest team we played, and I had a sack and deflected a pass,” Brown said. “Against Shelby, we had to go our hardest on every snap.”

Very few people refer to Brown by his given name. To coaches and teammates, he is universally known as “Fatz.” That’s a nickname that goes back to his earliest days.

“Well, I was this big, fat baby,” Brown explained with a laugh.

The fat baby slimmed down, grew tall and became quite an athlete. He was actually a quarterback at Knox Middle School, but he kept getting larger when he got to high school and the Hornets had Mike Geter to take snaps, so he was moved to defensive end.

Brown overcame a shoulder dislocation that kept him out of the lineup for a while and was one of the key players for Salisbury’s basketball team that went 27-4 with many of the same athletes who helped the football team go 12-1. The Class of 2024 accumulated a lot of wins, a lot of championships.

“Playing basketball always helped me out as far as football,” Brown said. “I got used to moving my feet and playing with energy.”

Brown’s career goal is to become a contractor. He plans to major in business and finance at Livingstone.

But he’s got a lot of football left in him — albeit at a position where he has limited experience.

“He always was a vocal leader for us, a great young man,” Trivett said. “Livingstone definitely recruited him as a tight end. He’s an athletic guy who can line up tight or split him out. And he’s got a knack for going up and getting those 50/50 balls. Not every athlete can do that.”