PRAIRIE CITY — Standout Prairie City football player Trey Brown became the second Grant County athlete this year to sign a letter of intent to play college athletics, signing with the College of the Redwoods at a ceremony in the Prairie City High School gym on Thursday, May 23.

Brown’s recruitment by the College of the Redwoods, in Eureka, California, is extra-special considering he’s the first non-11-man football player the school has ever recruited, much less signed.

An all-state scholar-athlete with honors including first team all-state offensive and defensive lineman in addition to being the OSAA 1A six man lineman of the year, Brown has accumulated a long list of accolades in his time in Prairie City, both in the classroom and on the football field.

The College of the Redwoods emerged as the winner among four schools that were seeking Brown’s services on the gridiron. Brown said the College of the Redwoods ultimately won out because the program is competitive and has a string of recent postseason appearances.

“I figured since they’ve been a winning team and they’ve been in the postseason the couple years that they’ve been taking off with this program, it would probably be worth it to at least reach out to the coach and ask to see,” Brown said.

After some back-and-forth communication, Brown took a trip down to Eureka for a visit, which sold him on the school.

Having four schools seeking his talents is something Brown called “surreal,” considering he was initially putting feelers out with no response before the influx of inquiries arrived.

“It was really cool to have these schools reaching out after a while of trying and not getting anything back,” he said.

Brown’s recruitment prompted College of the Redwoods head football coach Jason White to watch his first six-man football game ever. As the lone non-11-man football player ever signed by the College of the Redwoods, Brown said his recruitment convinced him that he is truly skilled.

“It shows me that I’ve got something that they’re willing to put some work into,” he said.

It wasn’t until a question about playing time and Brown’s role on the team that the news of Brown being the only 6-man football player ever recruited to the College of the Redwoods was made known.

“Not that I’m expecting to start, but I was curious about it and (White) laid it out for me, like, ‘You’re the only person that’s not 11-man — I don’t even look at nine-, six- or eight-man football usually,” Brown said. “He pretty much told me I had nothing to worry about, and if they didn’t think I was worth investing some time into, they wouldn’t even have talked to me.”

As a junior college, the College of the Redwoods doesn’t offer athletic scholarships. But it does offer academic scholarships, which Brown has applied for.

“I’ve applied for plenty, so I’ll have some assistance,” he said.