Different Paths

Quinnel Brown, aka QB, departs Mustang teammate
Jonathan Byrd, but reunites with another in Imo Akhibi

By Frank Rusnak
From Morgan Park's City Championship team, the Mustangs two star players are headed in opposite directions for the next level.

Throughout the season, it was 6'5" Quinnel Brown who's hype went through the roof and was labeled the Mustang's "star player" while garnering all-city, all-area and all-state honors by the local newspaper. Prior to the season, during the summer, all throughout his high school career, Brown participated with the Illinois Warriors high-profile AAU team, displaying his skills around the nation in front of countless college scouts.

"You can't spend too much time practicing and not doing anything academically. You've got to balance it out."

Jonathan Byrd
-on the importance of academics.

Throughout high school, 6'9" Jonathan Byrd never had an AAU team and was left at home throughout the summers. Working on his game quietly on the South Side of Chicago, Byrd was labeled "weak" and "uncoordinated" for a man his size. Almost nothing changed during the 2000-2001 season, as Byrd continued to be in Brown's shadow and never garner his fair share of publicity despite being a stabling force in the middle for Morgan Park.

As the season climaxed, Morgan Park had made their way downstate and while Brown was getting invites to all-star games with his play, Byrd was hidden behind Brown's efforts. Quietly being a defensive force with his shot-block and rebounding, and holding his own against current Chicago Bull Eddy Curry in the semifinals, Byrd was a large contributor to Morgan Park's success.

Naturally, Brown would walk off into the sunset, accepting a big time Division One scholarship to take his high-profile game to, while Byrd would be overlooked once again.

What many people didn't notice throughout high school, was that Byrd was outshining Brown in one category--grades. The most important and essential department about fulfilling your dreams was made a priority by Byrd.

Achieving scores of a 3.5 GPA and a 21 ACT, Bryd has been showered with D1 offers with colleges knowing that he won't have any problems with his academics. While Brown received his fair share of offers, colleges were a lot more hesitant with his situation in the classroom.

"We didn't even recruit Quinnel," said one college coach, who wishes to remain nameless. "How can you recruit someone who isn't going to qualify academically?"

While Byrd waited until after the signing period to commit, he still had plenty of offers on the table. Finally accepting a full-ride to the University of Louisiana Layfeyette, Byrd will happily become a Rajun Cajun.

"It was sometime during the season when they came and saw me practice and since then they've been recruiting me hard," said Byrd. "I took my visit after the season and I liked it down there, but didn't make a decision. I started to evaluate everything and the signing period was over and some other schools had signed other people. I felt comfortable with the coaches and the guys on the team at [Louisiana Layfeyette]."

While Brown will eventually reach Byrd's level of D1-status, it will take him a couple of years. Headed to Wabash Junior College in Mt. Carmel, IL, he will be joined by a former Morgan Park player, Imo Akhibi.

Graduating in 2000, Imo attended high-profile Indian Hills Junior College in Iowa out of high school, but didn't appreciate what the program had to offer.

"All the coach was worried about was championships and he didn't really care about his players," said Akhibi.

Still with four years of eligibility left, Akhibi was dealt a hardship redshirt while with the Warriors.

Playing the first semester with the team, the second half of the school year held an unexpected disaster when his father passed away.

Still practicing with the team, Akhibi declared for a red shirt of his second semester as he spent over a month at home dealing with the unfortunate circumstance, which eventually was granted as an entire year redshirted.

In heading to Wabash, Akhibi will room with his good friend Brown. Also, he doesn't mind that Wabash isn't as glamorous of a junior college as Indian Hills was.

"It was nice," said the 6'6" combo forward, Akhibi. "I really like the coach. I wasn't worried about the name and everything. [Coach Nelson] cares about the players and their education, he's not worried championships."

Joining Brown and Akhibi at Wabash will be fellow former Chicago Public League players, Westinghouse's 6'5" Jamal Washington and Crane's 6'4" Tony Allen who is transferring after a successful freshman year at Butler Community College in Kansas.

While the tide has turned and Brown looks to eventually get to the point of where Byrd is now at (D1), Byrd makes it sound so easy: "If you work very hard for sports, but not academics you won't be able to play. You can't spend too much time practicing and not doing anything academically. You've got to balance it out."