Brown quarterback and Andover native EJ Perry earned an invite to this year's NFL Scouting Combine after completing a successful college career, throwing for nearly 6,000 yards and 45 touchdowns in two seasons with the Bears after transferring from Boston College.

Perry played at Andover High School under his father, E.J. Perry III, where he was a two-time Boston Herald All-Scholastic and three-time Merrimack Valley Conference All-Star, and had fond memories of growing up watching the Patriots.

"I mean Tom Brady's the greatest of all time," said Perry on Wednesday from the Combine. "It was a blessed childhood to watch championship after championship after championship with [the Patriots], with the Celtics, with the Bruins, with the Red Sox. It was an unbelievable sports city and it was fun to watch and grow up around."

Perry is now eyeing a sizable jump in competition as he looks to make an impression on NFL teams this week, something his Brown head coach James Perry aimed to aid by consulting some previous Brown players who did make the leap in level, including two notable former Patriots.

"During our COVID season, Coach Perry set up some outreach to NFL alumni from Brown, Sean Morey who won a Super Bowl [with Pittsburgh], and played in another, James Devlin, who won two or three," said Perry. "There was a whole group of guys who were unbelievable representatives of Brown, who did great things in this league."

With that experience under his belt, Perry is hoping to put it all together on Thursday with a workout that will convince an NFL team to give him a chance.

"It's been an unbelievable opportunity, unbelievable experience to come here, talk to a bunch of coaches, interview with them and get a bunch of knowledge from people they've been putting in front of us," said Perry. "To get out tomorrow and compete will be a lot of fun."