By Kyle Coppola
Umatilla’s Isaiah Brown Anchors Defense, Honors Family Legacy
Junior linebacker Isaiah Brown has quickly become the heart of Umatilla High School’s defense, leading the Bulldogs with 52 tackles, 15 tackles for loss and three fumble recoveries through five games. He has also helped Umatilla High to a 5-0 start.
Isaiah’s impact has been felt on the scoreboard as well, with Umatilla holding opponents to just 24 points during that stretch.
“I’m trying to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps and be the next in my family to reach that level,” Isaiah says.
Football runs deep in Isaiah’s family. His grandfather, Rufus Brown, starred at Plant City High School before playing at Florida A&M University. He later competed professionally for the USFL’s Tampa Bay Bandits and suited up for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a replacement player during the 1987 NFL strike.
“I’m proud to play at Umatilla High, and having a coach like Eric Samuels, who knows the game and played in the SEC for Vanderbilt and professionally in the CFL makes it even better,” says Isaiah.
Coach Samuels, now in his third year as Umatilla’s head coach, has been credited with restoring the Bulldogs’ competitiveness as Umatilla High is a top ten ranked team in the Sunshine State Athletic Conference.
(Isaiah #6 middle leads the Umatilla High bulldogs out to the field.)
Off the field, Isaiah carries a 3.5 GPA and enjoys fishing, which he calls “calming and relaxing.” He is also a multi-sport athlete, competing in both weightlifting and track and field.
Isaiah has been a big part of Umatilla’s success and so have players like Tyler Pounders, Kellen Hatcher, Grant Kirkland, Payne Brunson and others who have Umatilla High’s defense looking as good as it has in over a decade.
Keep a good ey e on this young man as he continues his dominant season.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
