Jaylen Brown found an unexpected voice of support in the New England Patriots’ locker room Thursday.
Patriots safety Jaylinn Hawkins played his college football at the University of California, arriving at Berkeley in the fall of 2015. As it turns out, that’s also when Brown showed up on campus to play for the Golden Bears’ basketball team.
And while they only overlapped for one school year — Brown was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the summer of 2016, while Hawkins stayed at Cal until 2020 — Hawkins has always rooted for Brown from afar.
So, when Hawkins was asked Thursday at Gillette Stadium if he had any reaction to officials missing a tripping call on Brown near the end of the Celtics’ loss to the Utah Jazz on Monday night, the veteran safety came to the defense of his fellow Golden Bear.
“That’s kind of one of those situations where the refs sometimes call things and (sometimes) they don’t, and it’s unfortunate,” Hawkins said. “Jaylen’s a dog. I’ve known Jaylen since college, we came in together. He’s a baller. Obviously everybody knows that.
“I don’t think that’s really affecting him too much. But I think just his competitive nature, who he is, that emotion comes out.”
Hawkins saw Brown’s competitiveness first-hand at Cal, where Brown was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year during his lone season with the Golden Bears. And while he was initially booed by Celtics fans on draft night, Brown’s competitive drive has helped him blossom into an All-Star in Boston.
As for Hawkins? He’s making a name for himself in New England, as well. The sixth-year safety has started seven games for the Patriots, racking up two pass defenses, 1.5 sacks, two tackles for loss, two QB hits and a highlight-reel, one-handed interception in Week 8 against the Cleveland Browns.
