From football to farmer: The sweet potato whisperer

In football lingo it is known as "the trenches." It's the area along the line of scrimmage where jumbo-size players – the big uglies, as Keith Jackson used to call them – toil mostly in obscurity, digging and sweating and struggling to control every inch of ground.

The football trenches were where Jason Brown dwelled for more than a dozen years, earning a football scholarship to the University of North Carolina as an offensive lineman, and then spending seven successful and lucrative seasons as a center in the NFL

But in 2012, at the age of 29, Brown walked away from football's fortunes and – along with his wife, Tay, and their growing family – entered a new set of trenches. Or, as he put it, "I was being called to a different field."

That field turned out to be a humble 1,000 acres in North Carolina that Brown named First Fruits Farm. It is a plot of land he has been working for nearly a decade as a sweet potato farmer. Digging and sweating and struggling to again control the ground, though this time as part of a greater calling from God.

Brown has detailed this amazing transformation from football to farming in the new book Centered, which he wrote with author and journalist Paul Asay. As the cover indicates, it is the story of a man who traded his plans "for a life that matters," and discovered this life in a hot, dusty field far from the perks and privilege of the NFL.

"I knew that in my transition from football to farming, God was creating a transformative story," Brown said during a phone call in late June. "It's a testimony, but God is the author. … I want to tell everybody just how awesome and miraculous God has been in our lives."

A quick-paced 203 pages, Centered is a book that can be read in a day or two, but its message will live much longer. The story is about farming, but the focus is on faith and family, especially the support Brown received from Tay, who is mentioned prominently throughout.

As detailed in the book, Brown came from a farming background. His grandfather owned a 200-acre farm near Yanceyville, North Carolina, and battled racism as leader of a local chapter of the NAACP.

"My grandfather was a farmer," Brown writes. "He stared down droughts and floods, and wasn't about to be frightened off by men in sheets."

But in the early 1960s, the situation grew violent, and the Brown family – including Jason's father, Lunsford – moved to Washington, D.C. It would be nearly 20 years before the family moved back to North Carolina, just before Jason was born in 1983.

Lunsford stayed behind in D.C. for another 16 years, working in a government job and doing freelance landscaping on the side. When Jason made visits to D.C. to see his father, he often helped with the landscaping, which he writes is how he learned that "working the land is hard work, but rewarding work."

Athletics did not enter Jason's life quite as quickly. He was cut from his middle school baseball team, and when he began high school he initially was more interested in the band than football. But he eventually developed into a star athlete and went on to become a first-team All-ACC player at North Carolina.

During his junior year at UNC in 2003, Brown's older brother, Ducie, died while serving as a soldier in Iraq. Brown's description of his relationship with his brother – and how Ducie helped shaped him – provides some of the book's most poignant moments.

Two years later, Brown was chosen by the Baltimore Ravens in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL draft. He played well enough over the next four seasons to sign a five-year, $37.5-million contract with the St. Louis Rams in 2009, which made him the highest-paid center in NFL history.

Brown fell into many of the trappings of NFL wealth, buying a 12,000-square-foot home with marble fireplaces and two massive bars, which he stocked with expensive liquor (including a $1,500 bottle of Louis XIII cognac). He readily admits that neither he nor Tay drink, but they had succumbed to a lifestyle built on pretense. As his playing career hit new heights, Brown's life was reaching depressing lows.

"My identity and self-esteem were wrapped up in football," Brown writes. "I'd fallen in love with football, and football wasn't loving me back anymore. … My marriage was broken. My family was broken. My life was broken."

It was a time, Brown writes, "when our bank accounts were full but our hearts were empty." So Brown turned down offers to remain in the NFL for the 2012 season, and instead embarked on a new calling as a farmer, even though he admits, "most folks (thought) I had lost my mind."

"I'd built a career on spray-painted grass and artificial turf," Brown writes. "God told me to dig deeper, to sink my hands into the earth and pull goodness out of it."

At this point, the second half of Centered segues into Brown's fascinating transition to the farm life. It details the numerous obstacles he encountered along the way, including losing much of his NFL savings in shady financial investments, and the repeated moments when he says God answered his prayers through people who helped him at exactly the right time.

For example, Brown's initial harvest in 2014 of 120,000 pounds of sweet potatoes was accomplished with the use of 600 volunteers from the Society of St. Andrews. Over the years he received unexpected donations or discounts on vital equipment, including a brand-new John Deere tractor, which replaced a cranky, old Allis-Chalmers, and a state-of-the-art greenhouse.

"I knew my family had my back, but little did I know the community was going to rally around me as well," Brown said. "That has led to some of the most encouraging moments through it all."

Brown gives away most of what he grows to food banks and churches, keeping just enough to feed his family (which is up to eight children) and help pay the bills. He says providing that generosity was part of the calling that lured him away from football.

"We're sharing God's love in a practical way," Brown said. "Food is a constant need that every single one of us has. Everybody has to eat. So when it comes to making an impact and giving back, the most practical way is through hunger relief."

But while Brown undoubtedly is giving back by making financial sacrifices most people can't imagine, he writes that farming has given him so much more. It has made his overall life more enjoyable and left him at peace. He is, as the title readily indicates, centered.

"Every seed we plant is almost like a little prayer," Brown writes. "When we put it in the ground, it's a way of saying, 'I believe. I believe you will grow.' … (Farming) gives us a front-row seat for what it looks like to walk in faith every day, and what the harvest of that faith can be."

Learn more about First Fruits Farm at WisdomForLife.org.