The University of Texas quarterback had just finished his college career having rewritten the Longhorn record books and had become a legend in college football lore.

But the NFL was a foreign concept.

“I didn’t have an agent. I didn’t have anybody,” admitted Brown, who will quarterback the CenTex Barracudas (8-6) in their first-ever home game in the Intense Football League playoffs when they host the Alaska Wild at 7 p.m. Saturday at Bell County Expo Center.

“(Texas coach John) Mackovic’s philosophy wasn’t about the NFL. Today, Mack Brown encourages those guys to the NFL and that money. But it wasn’t anything like that when we were there. ‘Y’all need to worry about what is going on right here.’ That was Mackovic’s philosophy. So I didn’t know too much about the NFL system.”

In 1995 James Brown led the Longhorns to victory in the final Southwest Conference game, ending the Texas A&M Aggies’ 31-game home winning streak in the process.

The next year, with one play he became a legend.

The scene was the TWA Dome in St. Louis. Two minutes, 28 seconds were left in the Big 12 Conference championship game as the ball was snapped to Brown on a fourth-and-inches play.

Brown faked the handoff to Priest Holmes, and all but two of Nebraska’s 10 defenders in the box committed to the fake. The other two committed when Brown rolled left and had enough room to make a first down.

But Brown had other ideas. He lobbed a soft pass to tight end Derek Lewis, who had gotten past the Cornhusker defense, and 61 yards later the play was over at the 11-yard line.

Now the play is simply referred to as Roll Left.

“It was a designed play,” Brown recalled. “Rock and Roll. We run rock it’s run, roll it’s play-action pass. I had three receivers and me coming to run was an option, as well.

“I looked at my receiver short he was wide open. Then looked deep and Derek was open. I end up throwing him the pass. A real easy play that made history. I could have thrown it behind my back.”

One play later, Holmes ran in for a touchdown and Texas secured a two-score lead in the game. Brown had secured Texas’ first Big 12 title.

When he finished his career with the Longhorns one year later, Brown had 30 Longhorns records, including career passing yards (7,638), total offense (8,049) and touchdown passes (53).

But on draft day, no one was calling. No one believed that a 6-foot quarterback was tall enough or talented enough to make it in the NFL, especially not after the 5-10 Doug Flutie had failed to be productive in the NFL in his first stint years earlier.

But in 1998 Flutie was back in the NFL on his way to a fairly successful career, while Brown was still waiting for a call. He opted for life in arena leagues and NFL Europe, hoping just for a break to get a starting role. He finally found it in Frankfurt, where he led the Galaxy to the 2003 World Bowl title.

But still no calls.

“When I went to NFL Europe and we won the championship and I still didn’t get invited to NFL camp, then I was like, ‘Forget it,’” he said. “I started doing other things. I run a small tax business, a small construction business and a small appraisal business. So I keep myself busy.”

But five years after that decision in Frankfurt, the urge to play remained, and Brown got a call from an old friend.

Barracudas first-year coach Chris Duliban had coached Brown in 2000 on the Texas Terminators, an indoor team in Austin. Brown then worked with Duliban at Austin’s Hyde Park Baptist High School, and Duliban wanted Brown to join him at the start of the season. But because of tax season, Brown was unavailable.

But when Barracuda quarterback Bart Gloyd injured his shoulder around the same time reserve QB Shawn Bell decided to quit the team, Duliban tried Brown again. And with tax season out of the way, this time Brown said yes.

The results have been superb as Brown helped lead the Barracudas to third place in the IFL and their second playoff berth in their three years.

Brown has been selected as one of nine Barracudas to play in the IFL All-Star Game after the season. He led the league with a 60.1 completion percentage and a 104.2 pass efficiency rating.

Duliban shudders at the thought of where the Barracudas would be without him.

“Let’s not talk about that,” he said. “He adds so much to the practices. Just the tempo and the energy. We are where we are because he fuels this team and the guys gain confidence through him. The guys want to win and the practices have gotten a lot more focused.”

So maybe the Barracudas are the last stop on a long football journey for Brown, 33. If it is, he’s fine with that. He says he still has the desire to play on the 100-yard field but has no regrets on how things turned out. Instead he cherishes the moments he had, both at Texas and in various pro leagues, and his experience to help others.

“What can I do about what I didn’t know?” he asked about never making it to the NFL. “I just try to teach other kids know to be a little bit smarter, have a little bit more knowledge. I use it as a building block for youth.

“The whole experience was memorable. UT is one of the largest universities in the United States, and they have lots of fans and a great alumni system. The eyes of Texas are everywhere. I was in Europe and saw UT banners in Scotland. It was a great university to go to and we won a lot of games there and played in some big bowl games. All those experiences were good.”