String of injuries shaped Tyrell Brown's career choice

A string of serious injuries dating back to his sophomore year at Topeka West hindered Tyrell Brown's playing career at both West and Washburn.

But those setbacks — a broken growth plate in his knee in high school and two ACL injuries and a broken hand in college — also played a major role in shaping his career aspirations.

After finishing an injury-prolonged, seven-season stint as a wide receiver at Washburn in 2016, Brown got his start as a strength and conditioning coach at Kansas and also had stints at Washburn and Troy before accepting a position at Division I Middle Tennessee State in Murfreesboro, Tenn., this summer.

"Dealing with the all the injuries I went through, I definitely had to have a lot of faith — No. 1 in God and then in myself to be able to continue to do different things that I can do," Brown said in a phone interview.

"I've had to learn what my body needs and what it doesn't need and that's helped me a lot learning how I can help others better themselves, and different things like that, and prevent those things from happening to them."

After high school, Brown had aspirations of becoming an athletic trainer, but later switched gears to strength and conditioning.

"Going into college I did want to be an athletic trainer but just with the clinical hours I would have to put in, along with football, it just wasn't going to work out," Brown said. "So I wanted to figure out another route I could go where I could stay around football or sports in general and help others accomplish their goals and try to help them through injury prevention and different things with strength and conditioning to help them become better athletes and have better performance."

Brown's post-graduate career has already taken a circuitous path, but he is grateful for each stop.

"Just after we had the Mineral Water Bowl with Washburn (in '16) I had an interview with KU for an internship," he said. "Tyler Hill helped get me on at KU and I was there for about a year and a half and then went back to Washburn for a little bit and had tennis, golf and cheer.

"I ended up getting a position at Troy University and then came (to Middle Tennessee) because I knew the head strength coach here because of someone I worked with at KU. I just got here at the end of July. I assist with football and then I have men's and women's tennis here."

The different stops have cemented Brown's belief that he chose the right career.

"I've been at four different schools in the last couple of years or so in three different states so it's been a pretty big whirlwind, but it's definitely what I want to do and I love it," said Brown, who rushed for 148 yards on 25 carries and caught 11 passes for 250 yards and a touchdown at Washburn.

Brown, who helped West's basketball team finish second in Class 5A as a senior, would eventually like to land a job as a head strength and conditioning coach.

"My goals are to be in Division I or professional (sports) or just kind of wherever life takes me at this point, because I wouldn't have thought that I would go from being at KU to Washburn, then to Troy University and then come here to Middle Tennessee," he said. "I never would have thought that everything would happen like it has so fast.

"With experiences comes education and just the people I've come in contact with helps to not only grow my network but also have people on my side that I can talk to that will help me get through struggles in life or figure out different ways to help my athletes. I've been learning a lot, a lot, a lot every single day."