Xavier Brown pumped the football wildly as he raced down the sideline at Coastal Carolina, putting Chanticleer defenders in the rearview. His 75-yard dash in the third quarter was the longest Cavalier run since 2018 and set up the fourth of Virginia’s five touchdown drives in its punctuating 43-24 win Sept. 21.
The junior running back, who entered that game with just 332 career rushing yards, finished with 171 on only nine carries. It was a breakout performance for Brown, whose sophomore year had been wiped away by a slew of untimely, devastating injuries.
It was also a performance that never would have happened had Brown gotten his way 14 years ago.
Brown, from Lexington, Ky., got his start in football at age five, playing flag. His father, Lamont, missed the start of Xavier’s first season because he was deployed in Iraq as a Navy Seabee. Home from his military duties the next season, Lamont felt it was time for his son to try the contact version of the sport. Xavier had to play up in an older age group because there were not enough kids to field a younger division.
“I was six years old playing with eight-year-olds,” Xavier said. “So that experience, it was scary.”
Xavier took his first handoff and got tackled — he did not like that. His father says he wanted to quit.
“Well, buddy, we started,” Lamont said to his son. “We’ll finish.”
Lamont talked Xavier into playing some defense, where he started to build confidence. Shortly after, Xavier wanted to return to the offensive side of the ball. This time, he found success. During that season, things started to click, according to Lamont. Xavier began to excel against older competition, but more importantly, he began to enjoy football.
Though Lamont wanted to introduce Xavier to several sports, Xavier found a home on the gridiron as he grew older. He took advantage of his opportunity in high school football with a dominant junior year, which saw him rack up 1,300 total yards and 17 touchdowns at Lexington Catholic High School.
Around that time, Division I football programs were starting to take notice. Xavier received multiple offers from notable programs including Wisconsin, Maryland and West Virginia. But his one official visit was not to any of those programs — it was to Virginia, the school that piqued his interest most. He committed to play for the Cavaliers July 15, 2021.
After finishing out his prolific high school career, Xavier immediately burst onto the scene for Virginia as a true freshman in 2022, averaging close to five yards per carry and receiving the team’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Lamont said seeing his son win the honor was a “proud father moment.”
“It just melted my heart,” Lamont said. “It could not have happened to a better person.”
In a deep and seasoned running back room, which included upperclassmen Mike Hollins and Perris Jones, Xavier showed that he belonged. And as his game action surged, so too did his expectations for his upcoming sophomore season — he was planning on earning “significant playing time.”
But just as Xavier prepared to take the starting role by the reins, an awkward landing during fall training camp halted his ascension. He had suffered a dislocated elbow after using his arm to brace the fall, and he was estimated to be sidelined for 4-6 weeks. He broke the news to his family over the phone.
“It broke my heart,” Lamont said. “Knowing how hard he worked to get where he is… I could tell it deflated him… At that moment, all I wanted to do was go be with him, put my arms around him, hold onto him and let him know, ‘It’s going to be okay.’”
Xavier missed the first two months of the season before returning to game action in a road bout against Louisville. Back in his home state, with friends, high school coaches and family in attendance, it seemed a perfect time for him to get back on track. Unfortunately, Xavier’s homecoming was sullied by yet another injury before he even received a carry.
Lamont remembers a sense of dread after seeing the play. Xavier came and saw his family after the game but took an unusually long time in the locker room. He underwent tests the following Monday, and it was determined that he had torn his tricep tendon. His season was over. Xavier was once again knocked down, and it was time for his father to help him get up once more.
“This is part of your story,” Lamont remembers telling him. “This is going to make you who you are, and it’s going to make your message even more powerful.”
Xavier worked his way back from the torn tricep and managed to stay healthy for the first two weeks of camp. Then came another injury. This time it was a sprained AC joint.
Once again, he had to regain his momentum and confidence. Recovering from an injury is tough on the body, but it can be even tougher on the mind.
“[I] shed a couple of tears, just because I had worked so hard to get back,” Xavier said.
But putting those tears, a little blood and a lot of sweat into his recovery, Xavier was back on the field two weeks before the first game of the 2024 season against Richmond. And he was ready to make an impact.
In that game, Xavier rushed for 44 yards on eight carries. He posted similar numbers in the following two games against Wake Forest and Maryland, and then in week four versus the Chanticleers, he had his breakout performance.
Watching from the stands at Brooks Stadium, Lamont took it all in. He filled his phone with personal photos and videos from the day, as if he was still standing on the sideline at one of Xavier’s youth football games. He may have missed the opening chapter of his son’s football story, but he has not skipped a page since.
“I’m very, very blessed that we have the relationship that we have,” Lamont said. “It’s very, very, very special to me.”
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