Troy's James Brown gets invited to NFL Combine

Former Troy offensive lineman James Brown is heading to the NFL Combine.

Brown will participate in the event, which takes place from Feb. 22-28. Brown, a three-year starting left tackle for the Trojans, is also playing in the Jan. 28 Senior Bowl in Mobile.

He made the all-Sun Belt team as a junior and a senior, and was invited sometime in the last two weeks. He said this invite was even more rewarding than the Senior Bowl invite.

“When I was growing up, all my teammates would watch the Combine,” Brown said. “I never did, because I was always running track. I’m just glad I get the chance to participate.”

“He is easily worthy and has worked himself to be a very good candidate for the combine,” Troy strength and conditioning coach Richard Shaughnessy said. “He can only help himself by going there and playing in the Senior Bowl.”

Brown works out with Shaughnessy, who has helped numerous Troy players get ready for professional football, every day at 4 p.m. Recent Troy seniors are all preparing for the NFL during late afternoon workouts.

“He’s working hard to improve and I hope it will help him get selected higher (in the NFL Draft),” Shaughnessy said. “He’ll represent Troy in a good way. Right now, we’re emphasizing Senior Bowl stuff, like feet, quickness and hands (workouts).”

NFLDraftScout.com ranks Brown as the 19th best offensive tackle in the draft. The 6-foot-4, 309-pound Brown, who weighed around 350 pounds as a sophomore, likely projects as an offensive guard, though.

He said he’s trying to actually put on a few pounds before the Combine. The weight room at Troy is decorated with jerseys of Troy’s players who have played professional football.

Brown knows that the week of Senior Bowl practices and interviews will be a good measure of his professional stock.

“It’s a great opportunity for me to show that there are good players that come out of Troy University,” Brown said. “It’s a great chance because people enter this game and their stock rises and their stock can fall. I’m looking to go to this game and do the best I can.”

Brown’s agent is Bus Cook of Hattiesburg, Miss. Cook represented former NFL quarterbacks Brett Favre and Steve McNair, and currently represents the likes of Cam Newton, Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson, among others.

Shaughnessy said that juniors have not been selected for the combine just yet, but that defensive end Jonathan Massaquoi, who declared for the NFL Draft last week, and his agent, Pat Dye Jr., would begin a push to get the two-year starter selected.

NFLDraftScout.com has a higher opinion of Massaquoi, ranking him as the 62nd best prospect and as the No. 9 outside linebacker.