Brandon Owens

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While looking at some of Mason's old recruiting classes I found a kid that really stuck out. Brandon Owens, a 5-star prospect and the best safety prospect in the country. I was a bit young when his recruitment was going on but can anyone with knowledge of the situation tell me how he ever ended up at Minnesota? And by looking at his offer list on Scout it seems like he was severely under-recruited, any specific reason for that?

After a quick google search I read a story about how his career ended, what a freak accident and tragic end to a promising career.
 

While looking at some of Mason's old recruiting classes I found a kid that really stuck out. Brandon Owens, a 5-star prospect and the best safety prospect in the country. I was a bit young when his recruitment was going on but can anyone with knowledge of the situation tell me how he ever ended up at Minnesota? And by looking at his offer list on Scout it seems like he was severely under-recruited, any specific reason for that?

After a quick google search I read a story about how his career ended, what a freak accident and tragic end to a promising career.

The recruiting was really weird, because his ratings were all over the place, he was rated a two star one place and a five star at another, and I think there was a question about his eligibility up until the end. Seems to me he did not really play much until his junior year, because they were concerned with his understanding of the defense. I think he could also have been a terrific OLB. IMO he should have been on the field sooner, because he went from not playing at all to being a star immediately when he played. That tells me he was on the bench too long.
If you watch the play where he got hurt, he got hurt because he did what he was supposed to do and let up when it was clear the PSU qb was going out of bounds, he could have clobbered him. The PSU quarterback put his helmet into Owens shoulder, which was relaxed. Really a shame, he would have made money playing pro-ball if he did not get hurt.
 

When he went down, the effect on the defense was incredible. It really went bad after that.
 

When he went down, the effect on the defense was incredible. It really went bad after that.

He was a really athletic kid who could run and stick, hard. We have had no one close to as physical as he is that I can remember. I would not say he was better than Tyrone C, no one was, but that may have had more to do with the fact he just did not get on the field as early. Tyrone was never great in coverage, but my recollection is that Owens really improved in coverage. At one point Mason said, " Brandon owens became a defender the other team had to account for." He was fun to watch because if the opposition caught a pass over the middle they would pay for it. Nothing dirty, but he covered a lot of ground and hit like a truck.

Ps: The three biggest injury losses I can remember in several decades of watching Gopher football were Brandon Owens, who was playing All-BigTen quality SS,, Larry Powell, who was as good a freshman running back as anyone I have seen including Maroney. Powell caught Guillaume-Barre' syndrome and never fully recovered his use of his legs. The last was Jon Leverenz who was the best freshman defensive player I have ever seen at Minnesota. If he had not ripped up his knee, he would have been the best MLB in U of M history. He and Owens were the same kind of athlete, ran like deer, and hit like trucks. I have never seen a BigTen LB with the range Leverenz showed as a freshman, really unbelievable. the best part would have been that he was from Iowa, but stuff happens.
 



I'll never forget that game. That was the game where mason's players literally said after the game that "we overlooked them"

Mason should have been fired after that game. If you are the coach of Minnesota and you first allow you players to overlook penn state (who ended the year at #2 in the country that year) and then don't have you players coached well enough to not say "we overlooked them" after the game, it means you have lost your team. 2005 should have been a year where the gophers made a run, instead they went 7-5 and overlooked Penn state.
 

I actually think that video should be taken down. It's makes me want to throw up. Please remove it from our site.

Has Brandon regained the use of his arm?

He was an amazing talent. A holy terror against the run.
 

I just remember the sound from the hit. The sound alone made me sick to my stomach. Studwell asked the right question, has anyone herd if he ever regained the full use of his arm?
 

Scout (which most people agree is the weakest of the ratings services) had him as a 5*, other sirts had him highly regarded but not THAT highly regarded. How he ended up at the U I don't recall. I do believe he had some grade issues.

On the field he bounced around a lot & had trouble finding a position (sort of like another highly recruited defensive recruit; Alex Daniels). He went from safety to linebacker back to safety in his three seasons here. He could absolutely bring the wood & Gopher fans will always remember him for that. He was also a good teammate & program guy too. What people don't mention often is how brutal he was in pass defense & I mean BRUTAL!!! The one or two crushing tackles a game are what people remember, but what most forget are the one or two long TD's he gave up every game. imo he never had the skills to play in the secondary & should have been an OLB. If he'd have been al OLB, All Big-10 would have been a good Senior goal.
 



Re: Owens

First of all, it was not clear the QB was going out of bounds; just a terrible freak football injury.

Owens was in a sling for 18 months and has about 50% use/strength in his shoulder to date. Bad injury.

I remember the play he made against a very good Purdue team in OT on 4th down. Won the game.
 

First of all, it was not clear the QB was going out of bounds; just a terrible freak football injury.

Owens was in a sling for 18 months and has about 50% use/strength in his shoulder to date. Bad injury.

I remember the play he made against a very good Purdue team in OT on 4th down. Won the game.

I remember seeing him years later and he was still in a sling. He might have had some sort of follow-up surgery. I was lead to believe the nerve was torn completely out of his spinal cord and he has virtually no use of the arm. If that is not true, I apologise completely. Someone steer us straight.

Owens Nerve Injury
 

He still comes around the program from time to time. He doesn't appear to have any functionality in his arm. Everytime I see him he always has a huge smile on his face and from all accounts is a great young man.
 

He still comes around the program from time to time. He doesn't appear to have any functionality in his arm. Everytime I see him he always has a huge smile on his face and from all accounts is a great young man.

That broke my heart to read.

Way to be on top of this story local media, University PR, etc.
 



Wow.. That is wayyyy too sad. I did not remember him. It's too bad because sounds like he would have been one of my favorites.
 

Didn't he work as a volunteer coach right after that injury? I might be remembering wrong here. He was, and I'm sure still is, a great young man.
 

First of all, it was not clear the QB was going out of bounds; just a terrible freak football injury.

Owens was in a sling for 18 months and has about 50% use/strength in his shoulder to date. Bad injury.

I remember the play he made against a very good Purdue team in OT on 4th down. Won the game.

The posted video did seem to show that Robinson could have turned it up field. You are right in that it was a freak injury...no one really to blame, just that it happened. Nothing dirty about it. I think he was the best def. player on the team at that time.

I think he did try to volunteer coach for a while with the team. Pray the best for him.
 





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