USM Player Profile: DeAndre Brown

Brown going up for a grab in the HS All-American game

Every few days til the game we’re going to try and do a player profile on some of Southern Mississippi’s big play makers and how Troy stacks up. We’ll start with the man that is, if we are to believe Southern Miss fans, is the greatest thing since Vincent Price, WR DeAndre Brown.

Brown, a freshman, is a sure enough stud, probably the best WR Troy’s secondary has seen all year. Standing 6′6″ with 215 lbs, Brown has all the physicality that is often lost in receivers with such ideal size. Brown was recruited heavily out of high school in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. One of his few alleged weakness out of HS was his speed, but dont tell that to Marshall. 

Since starting for SoMiss, Brown has had an instant impact, already totaling well over 1,000 yards with 1,108 to his credit, even after he sat out the Arky State game. Brown’s season long catch was a 97 yard scorcher for 6 points against Eastern Carolina. More impressive? Brown averages over 16 yards per catch with 92.3 yards per game. Also interesting is the fact that despite these gaudy numbers, SoMississippi’s freshman QB, Austin Davis doesn’t seem to be locking in on Brown, as their roster sports WR’s with 51, 30, and 30 along with lesser amounts of receptions to Brown’s 66. The preference is only clear when it comes to scoring touchdowns: 12 of USM’s 21 passing TD’s ended in the hands of DeAndre Brown.

What does that all mean? On paper it looks like Brown is a serious big play threat and the team’s favorite receiver, but it will be tough to coax their solid QB  into just throwing it up in to Troy’s coverage.

With few exceptions, Troy has been good at limiting the big plays. It’s important to take this with a grain of salt though as I honestly believe that if SoMiss is clicking Dec 21, it will be the best offense we’ve seen to date aside from Oklahoma State. I would go so far as to say that tOSU’s offense at the beginning of the season was comparable to what we may see Dec 21 in ability, if not style.

Troy probably wont do anything crazy or new against SoMiss as they are a very balanced (Rush YPG: 196.33 Pass YPG: 238.17) team and over committing to the passing game would get us burnt worse than that spider in Georgia. The key will be getting pressure and seeing what we mistakes we can squeeze out of this young QB. Jorrick Calvin, Terence Moore, Sherrod Martin and Tavares Williams have improved as the season went on, providing adequate containment and coverage behind a stellar linebacking corps and d-line. If players like Brandon Lang step up and limit the ground game, we could see Davis trying to make up too much ground in one piece by going to his star WR when cooler heads would not. Simply put, it is foolish to think that we will be able to lock down Brown for the entire game, instead, it will be more helpful to move the pace of the game away from Brown. As much as Troy fans love to hate Alabama, Julio Jones is a perfect example of this kind of player. Florida has a stellar defense, and defended Jones about as well as they could, but a player as talented as Jones, and Brown for that matter, is going to find a way to make a difference. And Julio did, totaling over 100 yards receiving. The difference was: Florida limited his big plays to a minimum and never hit the panic button. The same attitude will be necessary in two weeks.