CORTLAND — Kareem Brown is trying to win a roster spot with the Jets, but he’s doing it with a heavy heart.
On July 24, as he was preparing for his trip to SUNY Cortland for training camp, Brown witnessed one of his best friends die in a grisly car accident in South Florida.
Brown, who’s a converted tight end from defensive lineman, was following his friend Jeffrey Nelson home from a club in Miami when Nelson lost control of his car and crashed into a tree.
“I was in the car behind him, so I witnessed the whole thing with my own eyes,” the soft-spoken Brown recalled yesterday.
“That’s something that’s going to stick with me forever.”
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The Jets practiced on the grass field for both sessions yesterday, with the morning practice featuring goal-line and short-yardage situations. That made for some spirited, hard-hitting action.
“Coach [Rex] Ryan said it best, ‘This is a man’s practice,’ ” quarterback Mark Sanchez said.
Running back Thomas Jones scored an early touchdown, and QB Kellen Clemens scored on a naked bootleg.
Sanchez dove for the end zone on a bootleg but was pushed out by linebacker Bart Scott.
“Like I told the rook, ‘That’s a bad career decision,’ ” Scott joked. “Once you roll out I might blank out. I don’t know what the red jersey [for no contacts on QBs] means sometimes.”
Sanchez looked pretty good in 11-on-11 drills in the afternoon, completing four of six passes. Clemens completed two of three.
Fullback Tony Richardson suffered a hip pointer.
