Meet Raleek Brown, a California youth football legend churning toward USC fame
LOS ANGELES — Sometimes, you just know. You feel it deep in your gut. Not so much an instinct as an instant, unimpeachable sense of certainty so clear nothing could convince you otherwise.
That's how Mori Sue'sue felt seeing Raleek Brown on a football field. He just knew. He knew before warmups of that first Little League All-Star tryout were finished. He knew by the way Brown moved at just 12 years old, so sudden and yet so smooth, deftly cutting on one dime after another, speeding past one … two … three … four unsuspecting defenders with ease. He knew the way those in Brown's hometown of Stockton will tell you they've always known — at least since crowds started forming to see the young football phenom they once called "Mighty Mouse."
Others who ushered Brown along the way, from the Southside Vikings all the way to USC, offer a similar explanation for how they came to believe Brown was bound for stardom. They just knew, they say — always with the same emphasis on the word.
At USC, teammates took all of a few days during preseason camp before treating the freshman's bright future as a foregone conclusion. Eyes light up whenever they're asked about Brown.
"It's something I [saw] Day 1," USC receiver Tahj Washington says.
"It amazes me," adds Austin Jones, a fellow USC running back. "[I was] just sitting
