How 6-8 center Christian Brown became Franklin basketball's anchor after overcoming two leg injuries

It was as if Christian Brown was lifting off a trampoline.

His first-quarter block of Independence's Jett Montgomery under the basket came just after the officials whistle blew for a Franklin foul. But the moment wasn't lost on Brown on his Admirals team. They've come to expect, and need his 6-foot-8 intimidating presence at the rim.

That presence, along with Brown's 22 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks, helped Franklin capture a key District 10-4A win, knocking off Independnece, 73-65, Friday at Franklin High School.

"Getting past the mental hurdle was a challenge," Brown said.

But Brown wasn't talking about Franklin (12-4, 4-0) beating a team that appeared in last year's Class 4A state championship game. Brown was talking about the relief that he's finally able to play basketball, injury-free and at ease mentally.

Last winter and spring, Brown as nursing a broken right leg, suffered a year ago at Hillsboro. He missed the second half of the Admirals season as doctors explained to him and his family that his rapid growth spurt actually led to the injury.

"They told me I was growing too fast," Brown said. "But they had seen that before. So that let me know I was going to be OK. Just the fact that it wasn't something rare or something that rarely happens, I felt like I could get back on the court if I took care of myself."

The junior came to Franklin High as a freshman at about 6-foot. In a year he was 6-4. Then last summer, he grew another four inches. In less than three years, Brown had grown eight inches.

It's not unheard of for a basketball player to grown quickly, but because Brown's 150-pound frame, the lack of muscle development in his legs never gave him the proper anchor to support the constant running and jumping.

My leg couldn't take that kind of pounding and it gave way," Brown said. "But from that point on, I knew what I had to do."

Brown's leg injury was his second. He had a small fracture in the left leg in the summer of 2022 that healed on its own and only required rest. But his right leg required surgery to fix the displaced fibula. Three screws were inserted and Brown was told to rest — for a while.

The loss was felt immediately by Franklin. The Admirals were 14-2 going into January of 2023, but they lost four of their first five games to start the new year and eventually bowed out in the quarterfinals of the Region 6 tournament with a 21-9 record.

"We became a team that was completely reliant on the three-ball," Franklin coach Jason Tigert said. "We didn't, really, have a paint presence to balance things."

It was a month before Brown began putting any weight on his right leg and five months before he began to weight train to strengthen the muscles around it. He resumed basketball activities midway through the fall. By then he had put on over 10 pounds of muscle.

This season Brown is averaging 16.6 points, 11.4 rebounds, 3.2 blocks and has 13 double-doubles. He has offers from Southeast Missouri and Tennessee State.

"I started eating right too and staying hydrated," Brown said. "I realized that I really didn't understand what being hydrated meant. I thought I was hydrated. I wasn't."

Brown is a legitimate rim protector. His three blocks set a tone in the Admirals' win over Independence, and he had three others that were wiped from the stat sheet because fouls were called just before the block. The Admirals have beaten Ravenwood, Brentwood, Independence and Nolensville — beating the Knights twice.

"I think Christian just trusted that rehab process," said Chelsea Brown, Christian's mother. "I think I was more nervous than he was when he did return to basketball."

Chelsea understands the work her son has put in to get to this point. She was a standout college basketball player at Southern University, an HBCU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and was inducted into that school's sports hall of fame last month. As a senior in 1995, she averaged 12.6 points and 10.1 rebounds.

Height was inevitable for Christian. His father, Xazavier is 6-3 and Chelsea is 5-10. Christian's has a grandfather who is 6-5, a great-uncle who was 6-7 and an uncle who is 6-6. And doctors expect Christian to continue grow.

"Under all that anesthesia, that was the first thing he asked us ... 'Am I still grown?'," Xazvier said. "So he wasn't worried about his leg or anything else."

Reach sports writer George Robinson at georgerobinson@theleafchronicle.com and on the X platform (formerly Twitter) @Cville_Sports.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA basketball: Franklin star Christian Brown anchors Admirals