The absence due to illness of starting Penn State running back Journey Brown from the 2020 team created questions. Brown answered them Wednesday by saying he has to retire from football due to being diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Brown rushed for 890 yards, averaging almost seven yards per carry in 2019. He scored 12 rushing TDs for the Nittany Lions.
In the Cotton Bowl, Brown set a Penn State bowl record with 202 yards in the Cotton Bowl vs. Memphis (12/28/19), topping Saquon Barkley’s 194 yards in the 2017 Rose Bowl.
He likely would have followed Barkley and Miles Sanders on the chain of Penn State running backs to continue their careers in the NFL. Some early scouting reports felt Brown would be one of the first running backs off the board in the 2021 NFL Draft.
An explanation of the disease:
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a disease in which the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick (hypertrophied). The thickened heart muscle can make it harder for the heart to pump blood.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy often goes undiagnosed because many people with the disease have few, if any, symptoms and can lead normal lives with no significant problems. However, in a small number of people with HCM, the thickened heart muscle can cause shortness of breath, chest pain or problems in the heart’s electrical system, resulting in life-threatening abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias) or sudden death.
I didn’t even expect to make it this far but it’s about Journey, not the destination. #HLM #SIAM pic.twitter.com/nbQrIsjXzY
— SUNNY-D☀️🦕 (@JourneyBrown6) November 11, 2020
“His leadership on our team is significant,” head coach James Franklin said last month. “His leadership on our team is needed. His energy, he’s been phenomenal…We’re not losing Journey the man. Journey the man is going to be with us and will always be. We’re fortunate because that’s the thing that’s most important to me – who he is and what he represents for our program.
