When Velton Brown Jr., first started playing flag football eight or nine years ago, he said it was just something to do for fun.
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That all changed in 2018, when, during a routine Orlando Sport and Social Club league flag football game, Nate Roberts made a discovery.
Roberts, a long-time Orlando-area flag football competitor, saw Brown doing his thing. Brown stood out among all the others. He had something special, and Roberts noticed right away.
“It was just a Thursday night, like regular local league, and I saw him on the field playing,” Roberts said. “It was just the way he was moving and his potential just kind of jumped out to me, and the team he was playing on stunk. So I was like, ‘If I can get my hands on him and show him the things I know and put him on better teams and give him the opportunity to do what he’s naturally doing, he will become who he is (now).”
Who is Velton Brown Jr.? He has become one of the top flag football players in the world. Next month, as part of Team USA, he will be going after a fourth straight world title at the IFAF World Championships in Düsseldorf, Germany, on Aug. 13-16.
Brown, who plays all over the field on both offense and defense, has become a star, and he is enjoying every minute.
He never dreamed he would become a big thing in a sport he was just playing to have some fun and kill time.
“Like we go to Finland, two years ago, and we walk around and we got the USA shirt on and everybody’s acting like you are LeBron (James) or something. Not to say Jesus, because nobody is Jesus or God, but that’s how they see you,” Brown said. “And after they see you play, everybody’s yelling like, ‘Photo, photo,’ and you’re signing autographs and all of that type of thing. … It’s amazing.”
The 30-year-old Brown wasn’t a five-star standout in high-school. He wasn’t that can’t-miss recruit every big-time college was clamoring for when he came out of Lake Nona High in 2015.
“He was little. He might have weighed 120-130 pounds,” said former Lake Nona football coach Anthony Paradiso, who is now head coach at Tohopekaliga. “That’s the only reason he didn’t get more snaps for us. But he was our main punt and kickoff returner. He was just a good athlete. He was also the starting point guard on the basketball team.”
Snaps were hard to come by because Brown was on a team with quarterback Tucker Israel, once the state’s all-time leading passer, and he had four future NCAA receivers in front of him. Ryan Sousa (Florida), Mehdi El Attrach (Boston College), Deondre Farrier (East Carolina) and Ulce Gillard (FIU) all signed with FBS schools out of Nona.
“That’s my guy,” Paradiso said recently when talking about Brown. “He was the first player to ever return a punt for a touchdown in Lake Nona history. He was dynamic. He was everything he is now when he was in high school.
“The four guys around him were just bigger, stronger kids. From a skillset, though, he was probably better.”
He’s still not huge, at 5-foot-9, 185 pounds. But he’s fast, and his lateral speed stands above that of most players. On offense, he dips, he spins, he twists and he’s hard to stop. He makes plays.
His personality and smile are as big as his football moves.
“He’s the kind of guy you can’t help but like,” Roberts said.
The first time he put on that Team USA jersey, Brown finally realized what he had accomplished and what he had to do. It was no longer only about winning football games. Now he was representing his country, and there was so much more at stake.
“To have those three letters on, even if it’s just a practice jersey, it gives you adrenaline,” Brown said. “And we have like a gold standard, not just to win every time, but it’s really like how you hold yourself, hold yourself accountable, on and off the field. It’s a lot.”
Of course, there is a little swagger involved in being part of Team USA and having a “nobody-beats-us” mentality, but Brown said the players try not to let that cockiness enter their mindset.
They actually did lose an exhibition game against Canada two years ago.
“We went out there thinking we were all Tom Brady and all that,” Brown said. “We were just out there acting like these games don’t count and like it was a practice. Football-wise, that bothered me. The loss didn’t bother me, but afterwards, oh man. Canada had a whole parade type of deal, and they should.
“But for us, we’d see like social media and it was all bad, even though the game didn’t count, but I see how it goes. It was a learning aspect.”
They’ve never lost in tournaments that actually count, winning almost 30 games in a row.
“It feels amazing now. Like Finland and all of that was never really a thought or goal of mine, so I didn’t see the bigger picture,” Brown said. “But after that, I realized how everyone sees you and the other countries. It’s a blessing. I never even thought about going to Germany.”
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Brown’s journey hasn’t always been easy. There were certainly bumps along the way for a guy who just wanted to play football. Out of Lake Nona, he didn’t really have any avenues through which to pursue his dream, so he opted to attend Valencia College in Orlando, which doesn’t have sports teams.
Valencia was his path to UCF, through its direct-connect program. He thought he was going to get his shot at UCF. But on the day he was supposed to go to a meeting before tryouts, he found out the meeting had been changed to the day before, and all he was told was, “Try again next year.”
“Man, that deteriorated me,” Brown said.
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It did not keep him from pursuing his passion. It just would not be at the level he had hoped. It zapped his energy for college and he eventually quit going to UCF, partly because the big-college atmosphere with online classes just wasn’t for him.
He got his gridiron fix by playing for the semi-pro league Orlando Phantoms tackle-football team for about three years, while he also dabbled in flag football. That’s when Roberts found him.
“I didn’t know anything about him, but he walked up to me and said, ‘You’re kinda special. You need to come play with us,’ and I was like, ‘Nah, I’m doing tackle football. I’m in school. I’m not worrying about flag.’
“But he just kept going and kept going, and I finally gave him my number.”
He showed up for a tournament at Cypress Grove Park in south Orlando and that’s where he saw what the potential could be.
“This park was just full of ball games. And a bunch of tents and stuff. It was like a fair and I fell in love right then and there,” Brown said. “And Nate Roberts was like, ‘If you like this, you’ll love some of the other stuff.’”
He joined Roberts as teammates and eventually went on to win several state titles and played on Florida teams that won two national titles.
“I started traveling, and I met up with coach Pat Allie, who is in China now coaching, but he saw me at a tournament and sent me an invitation through email,” Brown said. “That was 2022. In 2023, I went out to the tryouts, and I’ve been on the team ever since.”
He’s a star now. These weren’t his expectations, but he’s happy.
“I’m an optimistic guy, but it’s always the little things for me. Like, you give me a bottle of water, and I’m like, ‘Oh man, thank you,’ That’s me,” Brown said. “I just went out there waiting for the next thing to happen, and I was just being me.”
He’s coming along at just the right time. The popularity of flag football is booming. Women are getting involved and NCAA Power Four schools are starting to offer scholarships to women. Flag football becomes an official Olympic sport for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
“I didn’t expect much at all, and now there’s the Olympics and all that and it’s transpiring to things I had not thought about at all,” Brown said. “I just thought, OK it’s USA. Oh dang, OK, we’re playing countries now. Oh, it’s being shown on TV. I had just thought about the sport as being fun and something to do and that you could get to travel a little bit.
“Oh man, it’s literally like perfect timing.”
The Olympics are on the horizon and he’s optimistic, even though the tryout field will be open to NFL players.
“That’s the dream. The No. 1 goal right now,” Brown said.
He’s not worried about competition from NFL players.
“Oh no,” Brown said. “When I get out there. … don’t let me win, don’t let me get the ball, don’t let me have open space. I love me.
“Sure, I can say, ‘OK, this guy is better than me,’ or whatever, but if you ask me, I’m gonna say me.”
He works a part-time job at a local warehouse along with being a professional trainer and coach for other athletes. He will also start helping coach at Jones High next year with the girls flag football team.
“I have grown as an adult. I’m still a kid inside, and I like to have fun,” Brown said. “But now I’m seeing the future aspect of what I do now, and me and Nate Roberts had these conversations a long time ago. He was always saying, ‘You’re gonna see,’ and ‘You’re gonna stop playing tackle football.’”
He’s full of energy, full of positive vibes and any company would love this guy as a spokesperson. He’s just waiting for his shot.
“I hope so,” Brown said. “I know some of my other teammates are also starting to get some news media attention. Monetarily, I hope it happens, but I just take the small steps. Right now, we’re just doing it for the love of the game.”
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Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.