Penn State star RB Journey Brown forced to retire from football due to heart disease

Penn State running back Journey Brown announced wednesday that his playing career came to an end after he was diagnosed with heart disease which will require him to “medically withdraw from football”. Brown, a junior in a red shirt, had yet to play for the Nittany Lions this season due to the problem, which he revealed to be hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Penn State coach James Franklin said the disease was discovered in September through routine COVID-19 testing, but was unrelated to the coronavirus.

A former three-star prospect, Brown did not play in his red shirt season in 2017 and saw limited action in 2018 before becoming the team’s top runner last season with 890 yards and 12 of 6 TDs. , 9 yards per carry.

“I still remember the first time I really fell in love with the game I’ve been playing since Grade 4,” Brown wrote in his announcement. “Back then it was a game I played for fun, but when I was in second year in high school my life changed and I fell in love with soccer, all I could think of was when can i play, how can i improve, what can i do to be a better teammate, and at that point football became less of a game for me and more of a lifestyle. This lifestyle put me in a position to have the chance to play football at Penn State. My first year here has been tough at times, but when you love football as much as I do you put your head down and work with the Boy Scout team, the lion’s den and the wait and the observation. I finally got the chance to show off what I was born to do and hopefully prepared to fulfill my lifelong dream of playing in the NFL. Unfortunately, the dream will never come true. “

Although Brown’s playing career is over, training could be in his future. Franklin said on Wednesday that Brown had been an assistant running backs coach while traveling with the Nittany Lions this season.

“Journey is one of the most popular and respected players on our team,” Franklin said. “The whole organization is rallying behind Journey and his family. We need Nittany Nation to do the same thing I know we will. Journey has handled this incredibly well, and I know he will do extremely well in everything. that he will decide to do.