His parents had decided, after two daughters, that they were done having kids.

But there was nothing stopping A.J. Not then. Not since.

“I apologized to God after finding out about the pregnancy,” said Josette Robertson, Brown’s mother. “We said we were through. Two girls was gonna be it. But we joke now and I tell him his daddy, that he prayed for him, that he was praying against me so he could have somebody to carry on his name.”

A.J. is named after his father, Arthur Brown, but the J isn’t for Junior. It’s for Jauan (pronounced ju-wan). There’s a story there, too. On the Eagles star wide receiver’s birth certificate, his middle name is incorrectly spelled Juan, according to his mother, which has led to an obvious mispronunciation over the years.

Even Brown, when the local papers first wrote about his football exploits at Starkville High, made the error.

“I read an article and they asked, ‘A.J., what does the ‘J’ stand for? Arthur Jr. or what?’ ” Robertson said recently. “And he said, ‘Hwan.’ And they said, ‘Hwan? Well, it don’t matter as long as you hwan games.’”

And games he won, including his last as a senior for the Yellowjackets — a Class 6A state title. But for his family and those who know him best in this working class college town — the most populous in the “Golden Triangle” east central region of Mississippi — he’s just Jay.

If Brown was initially a shock to his mother, there wasn’t much he did after — especially in sports — that surprised her. He was often ahead of the curve. He walked at nine months and as soon as he could stand still — a chore for the rambunctious toddler — he was swinging a baseball bat.

The bat and other gadgets were placed in his hands by his father. Arthur Brown invested significantly in his daughters’ sporting pursuits. For the eldest, Reva, it was basketball, and for middle child Shareda, it was softball. But when his only son was born, his sport would be the one the elder Brown thrived at most when he was younger: baseball.

Brown was so advanced early on that he played several age groups up in travel ball, and sometimes — when barnstorming teams came to town — with young men double his age. But his father didn’t make a big deal about his accomplishments.

Even when the younger Brown committed to also playing football in high school, and had breakout games that drew Alabama’s Nick Saban to Mississippi State’s backyard, his father kept his praise to no more than maybe a “You did a little something.”

Brown didn’t need much motivation, as those who goaded him into playing football by simply calling him “a chicken” later found out. But his father wanted to keep him humble and hungry. It worked, as the now 26-year-old Brown said he can see how seeking Dad’s approval drove him.

“Oh, for sure, for sure. Because there were times when if I didn’t play good, I knew the car ride was going to be long because he was going to tell me how it is,” Brown said earlier this summer. “He could always tell if something’s going on with me, if I was aggravated or whatever on the field.

“He was always watching.”

He’s still watching, of course, as is the rest of Brown’s family. But with A.J. now with the Eagles and farther away than when he was with the Tennessee Titans, there aren’t as many opportunities to break through when he does revert into his shell. Brown may occasionally be outwardly brash on the field, but those who know him best describe him as subdued and sometimes introverted.