Nice Nate Brown story in the tribune. His parents are freaking geniuses.

Tigers look for Brown to be playmaker in the slot

http://www.columbiatribune.com/sport...116202c43.html

By BLAKE TOPPMEYER
Wednesday, September 2, 2015 at 2:00 pm

Nate Brown isn’t entirely comfortable being cast as a veteran in the Missouri football team’s receiving corps. After all, he does have just 45 career receiving yards.

“We all kind of just see each other as equals,” Brown, a sophomore, said of MU’s receivers. “We all go out and compete and try to get each other better. We’re all young.”

Although MU’s receivers are young, they showed pretty well in three scrimmages during fall camp — especially Brown, who caught eight passes for 89 yards and a touchdown.

Coach Gary Pinkel said his receivers’ inexperience isn’t a crutch.

“It’s a great opportunity for those guys,” Pinkel said. “You’re never going to hear me say that we’re young. We’re not going to do that.”

After dipping his toe into the water last season as a true freshman, Brown will have the opportunity to put his talents more fully on display this season. He’s slated to be MU’s starter at slot receiver, with fellow sophomore J’Mon Moore and redshirt freshman Keyon Dilosa starting at outside receivers.

MU’s entire wide receiving corps has only 10 career catches. Five of those are from Brown, and two are from Moore. The other three are from senior Wesley Leftwich, who is sidelined with a knee injury and won’t play in Saturday’s season opener against Southeast Missouri State.

Put another way, Missouri’s receivers have 89 fewer career catches than SEMO senior wideout Paul McRoberts, who is one catch shy of the century mark.

Brown began his MU career as an outside receiver. He started taking reps in the slot during Missouri’s preparations for the Citrus Bowl because the usual starter, Jimmie Hunt, was out after shoulder surgery.

Brown liked his new spot, and Pinkel kept him there.

Quarterback Maty Mauk has shown a preference for slot receivers in the past. During the 2013 season, Mauk targeted the slot a higher percentage of the time than James Franklin did. Mauk threw more passes to slot receiver Marcus Lucas than to any other receiver. Outside receivers Dorial Green-Beckham and L’Damian Washington were Franklin’s favorite targets.

Mauk didn’t target the slot as heavily last season, when outside receiver Bud Sasser became his top option. However, Brown became the favorite target in MU’s three fall camp scrimmages. He was targeted 16 times while working with the first-team offense.

“He’s a big body,” sophomore safety Thomas Wilson said. “He’s quicker than people think he is, and he has great hands and is a great route runner.”

Slot receivers draw blocking responsibilities against linebackers and safeties. Brown, at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, is the biggest receiver on MU’s two-deep depth chart.

“He’s got to do some blocking in there, and he certainly has the size to do it,” Pinkel said. “There’s more things going on in there than out on the perimeter. He’s the most experienced receiver we have right now out there, and so we put him in there because of his experience.”

Even back in his days playing youth football, Brown “was always a lot taller than everybody,” Wilson said.

Brown played youth football with Wilson and Wilson’s twin brother, Terrance, who is now a cornerback at Buffalo. That team was flush with talent. The Wilsons were running backs. Caleb Scott played wide receiver, his position now at Vanderbilt.

Brown played quarterback.

“I used to sling it back then. That was cool,” Brown said. “That was a really fun team.”

Brown’s QB days ended after he enrolled at North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee, Ga., where the coaching staff converted him to a wide receiver. Brown wasn’t a fan of the idea at first, but he grew to like his new position.

“He really worked at his trade once we made the move,” North Gwinnett Coach Bob Sphire said. “He really worked great in the weight room. Physically, his preparation was spot on, and then, of course, from a technical standpoint, he made tremendous progress.”

Brown became a starter his junior season, when he made a remarkable catch in a televised playoff game against Johns Creek. Brown adjusted to a ball that was tipped by a Johns Creek defensive back. Brown reached out with his right hand and tapped the ball back to his left hand before corralling it with both hands and coming down in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.

“He had had his coming-out party prior to that, but that may have been one of the signature things that the media got the clips of that may have gotten the buzz going a little bit more,” Sphire said.

The next year, Brown’s 61 receptions — including 21 TDs — and 1,041 receiving yards helped North Gwinnett finish as Georgia’s Class 6A state runner-up.

“We went all the way to the state championship, and I mean to tell you, buddy, he was huge in that deal — his ability to make explosive plays down the field or to turn tunnel screens into big plays,” Sphire said.

Brown performed well in the classroom, too, and he had offers to play football at Vanderbilt and Yale. Brown’s parents, Rob and Wanda, are engineers who graduated from North Carolina A&T. Wanda went on to earn her MBA from Penn’s Wharton School of Business, and Nate Brown said his mom “always preached academics.”

“Nathan has always known that, growing up, academics came first, and assuming that he took care of what he needed to in the classroom, then he could play football,” Wanda Brown said. “What I’ll tell you is, Nathan is just one of those kids that he has been so driven and so focused that he did a great job balancing both football and academics.”

Brown narrowed his list of suitors to Missouri and Vanderbilt, and he committed to MU in September of his senior year after visiting campus with some high school teammates. Two months later, Georgia offered Brown a scholarship, but he didn’t waver in his decision.

“When Nathan came back from his weekend at Mizzou, there was just like no other school,” Wanda Brown said. “It was like everything fit. … It was like a glove fit.”

Nate Brown feels the same way about his role as MU’s starting slot receiver. It fits his game perfectly. But much like his hesitance to accept the label of being a veteran, he thinks it’s a little early to declare himself Mauk’s go-to target.

“I don’t know about favorite,” Brown said. “I mean, hopefully. Any receiver wants a lot of balls, so whenever they come my way, I’m going to make a play on it.”

I've got zero expectations for this season. Pinkel coached his ass off last year to win 11 games, and it was a freak series of events away from being 12. This year is just setting the table for next year.

The more I look at it, I think we need to be 6-0 going into the GA game. I know we shouldn't expect too much this year, but which one of those first 6 should we be comfortable losing? If we lose to that SC team at home I'll be pissed, same with FL, they need to do something before I can be scared of them at home.

If we do get to 6-0, does that change expectations? I really think 10 wins is doable again this year, and really, anything more than that is possible as well just looking at the schedule.

Of course expectations change if we go 6-0, but I just don't see it. I've been watching replays of our past games, and Mauk is a real cause for concern. He's a guy who can make plays, but he's just as likely to make them for the other team than for us. Given the complete lack of anything resembling a proven WR on the team, I just don't see where our offensive production comes from.

Had a reply typed up and then my laptop ****ed itself.

Go Tigers!

**** kansas.

That is all.:)

And Mauk is who he is. He's just never going to be a precise passer and so our offense is going to be limited.

My overwhelming concern is Hansbrough. He's perpetually dinged up because he runs so hard. The depth behind him is just awfully untested and really completely unknown. Witter is probably going to be okay, but he seemed more like a placeholder than a true difference maker. I thought Steward would be that guy but honestly, we'd be better served expecting little from him after his injury. Have we heard anything at all from Abbington? He just got on campus, no? Walters blew his ACL and we don't know if Doherty and Williams are physically ready to contribute.

With Mauk being erratic and the WRs being untested, we're going to lean heavily on a veteran OL and Hansbrough. If he goes down, we're going to be hurting.

How long does everyone believe it'll take before Lock is the starter? UGA game? Maybe the UK game.

I just see him taking over sooner rather than later...he's a 3 year guy and gotta get all we can out of him, by many reports he was the best QB during camp and I think Mauk is only starting because Pinkel wants to give him one shot to keep his job.

I think Mauk will actually fare a little better this season and 6-0 isn't really a stretch with that schedule.

Lock is certainly the better QB and I think it's more of a case of them evaluating how much of a tirefire they got at WR and Oline before he plays.

Why the concern over the OL? That's likely to be the most stable unit on the squad.

I'm not concerned about our OL or our back 7.

I'm really excited that two redshirt sophomores have jumped ahead of Taylor Chappel on the DC, and into the starting lineup.

Chappel was moderately adequate last year but not great, so to see two younger players surpass him is encouraging.

Exactly.

We either have solid, established veterans or young kids that beat solid, established veterans all across the line.

I'd be stunned if the line isn't a strength this year. Like Saul said, the OL and the back 7 are the two areas I think we can really count on this year. I really think the DBs in particular will be the best that Pinkel has ever had. Kenya Dennis may make himself a 1st day pick (though likely 2nd day) and Aarion Penton just keeps getting better. John Gibson is almost certainly as good as Kip Edwards or Carl Gettis ever were and he struggles to get on the field a lot of days.

I think we see Lock tomorrow. That shirt is torched and it's time to play. I look forward to seeing him and the young D-Line develop.

Hasn't Pinkel said he's going to get one series per game?

Has it actually been pulled? I didn't think the redshirt was burned until he actually stepped on the field.

I don't think Lock is actually a 3 and out kind of talent, so I hate that we're burning the redshirt. I almost wonder if it isn't a sign that Pinkel's only looking at sticking around for another 2-3 years.

If we had a great QB, I would agree. We don't, though. Red shirting Lock is a luxury we don't have. We just need to keep signing QBs to replace him.

Yes, I believe I saw that he will be getting a series or two a game like Mauk, Daniel and maybe Franklin...can't remember exactly on Franklin.

Abbington is on campus and practicing. I believe he got here very late in the process so he's pretty far behind.

Technically, the shirt hasn't been burned. In reality, the coaches plan to play him.

If the game's lopsided, Lock will get a lot more than one series tomorrow.

Found this while looking for Chiefs vs Rams stuff.

http://m.stltoday.com/sports/columns...ile_touch=true

Mizzou freshman looking to make the most impact this season: http://greatamericansportsnetwork.co...we-salute-you/

Is there going to be a game thread?

Gotta throw that one away.

Mauk gonna Mauk twice in a row

Yeah that was ****ing stupid..."Matty"

That was like a "**** it why not at worst it's a punt" thing.

Idk if Mauk is gonna survive all year tho

2nd Q, 14-0 and you pull the QB?

Pinkel does this with all of his younger QB's to get them a little game time. Mauk will be back in.

Lock looks very good.

someone tell this lady to STFU with trying to make Lock and Maulk rhyme

In case you didn't know..I'm not what you call a big fan of Pinkel

Yeah except that last pass...luckily it went out of bounds

Pinks is probably also trying to light a fire under Maty a little.

I like it.

Might as well figure out soon as possible if we got another viable option to play before we get into the SEC schedule.


Two competent QB's are better than one . . . . .

they're kinda shredding our d at the moment...this drive started at the 5

Defense looking shitty.

can't stop them on 3rd and long

They stopped trying to run up the middle and are going outside now. Need an adjustment.
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held them to 3 but that is a minor victory....that drive started at the 5 and they had them 3rd and long more than once. They got shredded.

Are Mizzou TEs not allowed to catch? The ghost of Chase Coffman is disappoint.

They should give Lock some more playing time imo

D is getting shredded by simple QB options.
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Don Cheadle got on the phone and had them change that call.
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War Machine FTW!

Where's all that RB talent Mizzou was supposed to be bringing in? Redshirting or 2016? That Ish guy is terrible.

We have 30 yards rushing against a creampuff...definitely a concern.
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Without Hansbrough this team & season is ****ed.

This isn't a very inspiring performance.

I understand. The dude is just barely deserving of the mother****ing statue that will be built of him outside the stadium when he retires.

Mother****. How about those Twins?

Still not a big Pinkel fan.....

Abbington, Doherty and Strong were the guys I was thinking of, though it appears Strong is actually 2016. Are the former in the plans this year?

Absolutely mind-boggling

Strong will be here next year. Abbington got to campus late and is 't up to speed yet from what I've heard. Don't know about Doherty.
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Now we're running it a bit.
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Lots of drops today. CATCH THE ****ING BALL.

Really?

Damn that poor kid took a nasty hit to the knee.

Pitiful drive. Where is the blocking?
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Tried to say this line may not be too great. I don't think they are utilizing their typical blocking system today, though.

Also this announcing team makes me want to inject gasoline into my dickhole

Touchdown Lock

There's definitely going to be a QB controversy at some point in the season.

If Maty plays this way over the next couple weeks, just call it done, and put Lock in there. Maty was not good at all.

Abbington sighting

never really have been. i mean i don't dislike him but i just don't think mu will ever win a big game with him an so far, we haven't.

i think what soured me on him was back in the days where we'd have the ball 1st & goal inside the 5 and turn it over on downs because we couldn't line up and power run for 3 yards in 4 downs

Meh.

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Pete is a huge fan of all the good stuff Mizzou was doing before GP got here and pretty angry about all the shit GP has ruined since.

Pete is an idiot. Period.

There already is one. The fact a freshman QB is not redshirting and is actually playing when the starter has another year after this one makes that obvious.

I'm not panicking yet. Two new starters, injury to the C (who is the best lineman and the most involved in adjusting to blitzes), and a D that was filling the box. I do still like that Crawford and Abeln were good enough to force Chappel out of the starting lineup. I think that pays off over the course of the season.

I think they plan to redshirt Doherty unless Witter and Steward continue to be unimpressive.

Steward still is getting healthy, and I'm not sure he's ever what he was before the hip injury. He looked tentative and stiff on Saturday.

Trevon Walters is also a factor... they expect him back in October from his torn ACL, but I'm not sure how much of an impact he can make right away.

Really need Hansbrough to stay healthy and have a big year.

Fuuuuuuuuuuu*******.

It took, what, 5 carries?

Don't expect him to be healthy. Ever. Sure, 'he would play next week if it were a different game', but he'll get hurt in that 'different game' as well. He's just always hurt. He'll always be hurt. Even when he's on the field, he's always nursing a ding here and there.

I love the guy, but we're putting way too much of this season on his shoulders. Morgan Steward's injury seems to have really messed up Pinkel's backfield. I can't imagine he ever really thought he had a true impact player in Ish.

The Drew Lock era needs to go ahead and begin, sooner than later.

Well, we're up to 19th in the coaches' poll. I don't expect much out of this season, so I'm going to take enjoyment wherever I find it. Being in the top 20 in a 'rebuilding year' is nice.

I blame Ricker for this O-line. The talent isn't that bad, it's got to be the coaching. They've under performed since he got here last year.

Highly recommend this guy's vines from the game on Saturday.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is why Scherer called DT Terry Beckner a ghost. OG didn&#39;t even see him go by him. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MizzouMade?src=hash">#MizzouMade</a> <a href="https://t.co/1IX2UqEesn">https://t.co/1IX2UqEesn</a></p>&mdash; Joe (@JDec89) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDec89/status/640398296847151104">September 6, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">#16 DE Marcell Frazier shedding two blocks to make the TFL. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MizzouMade?src=hash">#MizzouMade</a> <a href="https://t.co/hG0K3EpWLI">https://t.co/hG0K3EpWLI</a></p>&mdash; Joe (@JDec89) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDec89/status/640383601616535552">September 6, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Not blocking Nate Howard was a bad choice. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MizzouMade?src=hash">#MizzouMade</a> <a href="https://t.co/emqiIC71dw">https://t.co/emqiIC71dw</a></p>&mdash; Joe (@JDec89) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDec89/status/640380375827619841">September 6, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">FR DE Nate Howard&#39;s acceleration is ridiculous. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MizzouMade?src=hash">#MizzouMade</a> <a href="https://t.co/mOXG4D1ALn">https://t.co/mOXG4D1ALn</a></p>&mdash; Joe (@JDec89) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDec89/status/640377043490840576">September 6, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">FR DE Nate Howard with the TFL. Huge jump! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MizzouMade?src=hash">#MizzouMade</a> <a href="https://t.co/UmAQdG9bCO">https://t.co/UmAQdG9bCO</a></p>&mdash; Joe (@JDec89) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDec89/status/640376184434499584">September 6, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Howard is a stud.