By Sabrina Simms Robertson
The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — Ben Brown, a former Ole Miss and current New England Patriots football player, shared a message of faith, trials and triumph as the guest speaker for the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame’s annual Scholastic Awards Banquet on Tuesday.

Brown is the grandson of the late Allen Brown — third-round pick of the 1965 NFL Draft of the Green Bay Packers — and Margaret Burkes Brown of Natchez. A native of Vicksburg, Ben Brown recalled a lesson he’d learned playing football at St. Aloysius High School against his dreaded rivals, Natchez Cathedral.

After a near-perfect 13-1 season, with the only loss against the Green Wave in the season opener, St. Al was headed to the 2014 MHSAA Class 1A championship game — where it would again face the Green Wave.

Brown took the field dreaming of winning the title, earning an athletic scholarship and perhaps one day living the pro football dream himself.

“As I look out at our soon-to-be high school graduates, I almost feel like I should be sitting right where you are right now instead of up here behind this podium,” Brown said. “It seems like yesterday it was Dec. 5, 2014, a pivotal day in my life. I was a sophomore … and I was playing in the very last football game that I ever played with my older brother Bash. … We both realized the significance of this one last football game, this one last chance to play together, and so we played our hearts out. Some of you know exactly which game I’m talking about.”

After repeated losing seasons, the Vicksburg Flashes finally had a shot at the title. They did not get it, as Cathedral routed them 49-14.

Brown said he’d received wise words from his father after that game that still guide him today in his career.

“As everyone else filed out of the locker room, including my brother, I stayed behind alone … still dressed in my full pads, refusing to accept the reality of the loss until finally my dad came to get me,” Brown recalled. “I’ll never forget what he told me that day. He said, ‘Son, you’re going to face many more trials and tribulations that will be much more difficult than today.

“‘God has a plan for your life … but you have to get up, accept when has happened, and choose to follow the path that God has set before you, whether it’s football or something else.’”

While those were the last words Brown wanted to hear, they were exactly the ones he needed. A few years later Brown became the seventh member of his family to play college football for Ole Miss. He started every game as a freshman and did not allow any sacks on 446 pass attempts.

Brown transitioned from guard to center full-time in 2020 and was on the watchlist for the Rimington Trophy as the best center in the country.

However, he missed the last half of his senior season after suffering a potentially career-ending injury in a win at Tennessee.

“My agent had told me I had a lot of eyes on me. It was a nationally televised game and the perfect opportunity for me to solidify myself as a high NFL draft pick. … on one of the last plays of the game, I fully tore my left bicep from the bone. … I could barely use my arm at all,” he said. “I forced myself to finish the game with one arm. In that moment, I knew the dream I had for myself had been taken away in the blink of an eye.”

Determined to prove himself, Brown worked hard but tore his bicep again a few months later. After his injury, he went not drafted by the NFL and signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as a free agent. He reinjured his bicep for the third time in his first game of the preseason.

“I was crushed, but I stayed in the game until the very end,” he said. “I asked God to give me the strength to push forward and finish the game because I thought I’d never play again. Multiple surgeons suggested that I not undergo surgery because they thought it was unlikely that I would ever regain full function in my arm. I also knew that even if I did regain full function, it was unlikely that any team would take a chance on me after three severe injuries, but I was determined to try.”

During a long rehabilitation, Brown said he began to realize there was more to his life than football. He learned to put his trust in God through his anguish and signed on to practice squads with Seattle, Las Vegas and Arizona — he also played in one regular-season game for Seattle — before finally signing to the New England Patriots’ active roster in October 2024.

He made his first career start as a center in Week 6 against the Houston Texans and remained in the starting lineup for the next 10 games before a concussion put him out of the game three days before Christmas. In early February he signed a one-year contract to return to the Patriots next season.

“Now, I’m here talking to you,” he said. “So if my story teaches you anything, I hope that it is this. Nothing in this life, not even football, is forever. … Believe me, trials will come, and you will find yourself in the desert.”

Brown said that through all the hardships he faced, his faith only grew.

“I’ve learned to persevere in faith through trial and adversity. I’ve learned to trust the Lord is always doing something good,” Brown said. “The Lord will carry me through this life and will carry you, too. You just need to ask for his strength to carry on through whatever trials you face because all he asks of us is that we try our best and glorify him with the talents and gifts that he blessed us with. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and fortune forever.”