USC WR Amon-Ra St. Brown was built (by his father) for the NFL

The name Marinovich still resonates in Southern California football circles, enough that John Brown’s critics were never afraid to make the comparison. Quarterback Todd Marinovich attended USC and was pushed into football greatness at a young age by the domineering presence of his father, Marv. The two families lived just a few miles, and a couple decades, apart; both in Orange County, California. Todd rebelled, had an all-too-brief NFL career, and fell into substance abuse.

But don’t make the mistake of confusing the two, says Johnson, who was a ball boy at USC during Todd Marinovich’s playing days there.

“John might’ve pushed it, but I don’t think he went overboard … it’s just that his way of teaching is strict and different,” Johnson said. “He knows his kids, his genes, his wife’s genes, and he pushed those guys. I grew up watching Marv Marinovich. He went overboard — he was stretching his kid in his crib.”

John had a distinct, loud whistle that could be heard far and wide at parks and ball fields, and when it sounded, the St. Brown brothers, even if they were in three different places, would rush to his side. That, among other things, added to the perception that he was overly controlling. As the youngest, Amon-Ra was often at the center of the objections. When people who thought Equanimeous’ training was too much too soon learned Amon-Ra was doing the same at three years younger, the criticism kicked up a notch.

“There was so much venom and hate,” John Brown said. “If you look at my back, you’ll see a lot of arrows I’ve gotten from covering my cubs.”

But this was also a dad who traveled across Europe with his sons, would occasionally pick them up in the middle of a school day if the weather was too nice to be indoors, and let them sleep in late some mornings because “kids grow in their sleep.”

Fast food in the Brown house? No problem. Among several misconceptions that fueled criticism of Brown’s parenting style is that he dictated a strict nutritional regimen. Not true.

“I had McDonald’s, ice cream, you name it,” Amon-Ra said.

John Brown didn’t worry so much about fat and sugar in his sons’ diets because he knew that dedicated, high-intensity workouts would burn all of that off. His only insistence was that they get plenty of protein, so along with John’s proprietary homemade shakes, there was plenty of red meat served.

Another misconception: College coaches used to quiz Rollinson incessantly about whether Brown might meddle as a parent, exercising control over his sons in a way that would interfere with the program, particularly with strength training. After all, a former Mr. Universe would know more about lifting than any college strength coach, and with the training regimen for his sons well known, it was easy to understand, at least, why the question was asked. Brown admits it wasn’t easy turning his boys over to three different college strength programs, but he didn’t exactly interfere.

He did insist that the brothers train extra on their own if they felt a team workout didn’t properly balance training on opposing muscles. For instance, following a squat-heavy workout, they might do hamstring curls and calf raises on their own for a more balanced leg workout.

“It was very difficult to give them over [to college strength staffs],” Brown said. “I told them, ‘You’ve got to do what they tell you because you’re part of the team. You can’t go against them.’ I told them, ‘What they’re doing with you can’t hurt you, but what will hurt you is if you stop doing what I’m telling you.’ “

Devoting extra time to his training has never bothered Amon-Ra, just as it never bothered his father. He never needed much prodding to do so, in part because competing with his older brothers in training was enough motivation.

“I remember watching a Twitter video of Marlon Humphrey, when he got his second contract, he started crying and thanked his dad for all he did. You can look at the Tiger Woods documentary. I think there’s a borderline of how much the father does,” Amon-Ra said. “Some fathers can go overboard, but I don’t think my dad was overboard. He was tough when it came to sports and he taught us a lot of things. Some days, I was like, Man, I wish I had the easy way out like some of my friends, but looking back, I wouldn’t change it for the world.”