They were just kids.

They were only getting started.

When Chargers linebacker Jatavis Brown reflects on his fractured childhood, the most cherished memories are the simplest. They spent evenings watching “Boy Meets World” — that was big brother Dimarques’ favorite television show — on the Disney Channel. They spoke privately amongst themselves, a couple 9- and 12-year-old boys in a small Florida town where rabbit-chasing is a popular pastime. And they loved football, Brown playing running back since he was 6 because Dimarques did it first.

Friday, by many measures, is a landmark day for Brown.


He made it. He is in California, the state in which he long-envisioned to retire someday. He is playing for the Chargers. This first day of rookie minicamp marks his first NFL practice.

Yet, it’s all wrong.

“He would have been somewhere in the league right now, playing running back,” Brown said of Dimarques. “He was a great player. Everyone who knew him, they’ll even say to this day, ‘He would’ve been better than you. You ain’t got nothing on him. You think you’re good? Your brother was great.’ I feel like — I don’t want to say robbed — but I feel that I have to live his dream through me.”

The Chargers open a three-day rookie minicamp Friday morning. Brown has been in San Diego all week, getting acclimated to the team’s playbook and culture as part of its rookie development program. The fifth-round draft pick is under a four-year contract. For every day of it, he looks to honor his late brother.


Dimarques died on July 3, 2003. He was 12.

“He drowned,” Brown said. “He was fishing. I don’t know the full story, but it was an accidental drowning.”

By many accounts, Brown has a low-key demeanor about him. After losing his brother, he says, he saw himself change, growing quieter and keeping more to himself. Dimarques was the person he looked up to most, someone who watched over him and showed him the ropes. Dimarques’ absence hit him hardest in high school when freshman teammates had brothers on the varsity squad, brothers with driver’s licenses and letterman jackets and advice to give.

Brown has other siblings, but Dimarques nonetheless would’ve filled that role.


Keeping quiet is what shaped Brown’s football development.

He was a high school sophomore when he decided one practice that it was time for a position switch. A teammate and fellow running back had been feeling extra confident that day, running his mouth. Brown wanted to silence him. So, as the 22-year-old recounts it, he told a coach he was changing positions from backup running back to linebacker in order to hit somebody. Soon enough, he got his chance, that same running back attempting to catch a pass on a flare route in practice. Brown caught him instead. Whack.

And so, it began.

There in Belle Glade, Fla., Brown excelled at Glades Central High, the alma mater of Chargers wide receiver and former neighbor Travis Benjamin. He hoped to continue his career at Miami, but there was no real interest there. Not until three weeks before National Signing Day did he receive his first scholarship offer. Brown didn’t bother visiting Akron. He looked up the coaches and campus on the Internet, liked what he saw and signed a National Letter of Intent.


As a freshman, Brown largely was relegated to special teams, experience that will serve him well as an NFL rookie. He became a three-year starter who last season was named the Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He turned heads at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in January but, in part to his 5-foot-11 and 227-pound build, was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine.

The Chargers were one of 12 teams Brown visited before the draft.

After drafting him, General Manager Tom Telesco said that he received text messages from personnel evaluators on other teams, praising the pick.

“He can really run. Very productive. Explosive player,” Telesco said last month. “This is the one guy in our draft room that, if we didn’t draft, I think there would’ve been a revolt in the room. Everybody is really excited about getting him here as far as what he can do possibly on defense and special teams.”


In some respects, Brown is the same person he was in 2003.

Rabbit chaser? He saw two outside Chargers Park just this week. “I was like, ‘They’d better be careful,’” Brown said. “I almost started running.” A running back? On defense, he considers himself a running back who happens to play linebacker. And despite death, he is still Dimarques’ brother. Brown still speaks to him, asking him before games to watch over and protect him. On his left shoulder, he has a tattoo of his older brother’s young face.

“I believe he’s looking down, smiling,” Brown said. “I’m making him proud.”