Our Honor Defend

Now with 19 members of this class already better known, I move forward to #20 in the second edition of this now 25-part series titled Better Know A Buckeye.  Here, I consider the case of Corey Brown, momentarily classified as an athlete (wide-receiver/defensive back option) from Monroeville, Pennsylvania.  Like teammate Dorian Bell, Corey could not say no to Ohio State’s program once he saw things for himself and learned of his offer.  By following his teammate and running mate Dorian Bell with his June 23rd commitment, the Army All-American Corey (and Dorian) gave the Buckeyes arguably the best package deal in the country.  As we’ll see below, they were implicitly a package deal during the recruiting process.  I recap Corey’s recruitment and commitment as is customary for these features.  Later, I review strengths and areas for improvement in usual fashion, conclude with miscellaneous things about Corey that I think you should know.  I ultimately add on The More You Know graphic and “board” and call it a day.

Height: 6’2
Weight: 185lbs
40: 4.58
High School: Gateway SHS; Monroeville, PA

His Recruitment: Corey comes from a powerhouse Gateway Gators program in Monroeville, Pennsylvania that annually matriculates its star players to top college football programs around the Midwest.  With a stellar sophomore season and the credentials of high school team and coach, Corey was getting serious interest as early as the summer of his sophomore year.  He had verbal offers from the likes of Boston College, Pitt, Rutgers, Kentucky, WVU and apparently Penn State by mid August of 2007.  By the end of the month, Ohio State and Michigan were interested.  Ohio State’s interest came after the junior Corey Brown (and teammate Dorian Bell) impressed at the 7-7 camp at Ohio State.  When all was said and done, Corey had offers from the likes of Oklahoma, UNC, Notre Dame and Tennessee as well.

As I mentioned in Dorian’s feature, the turn of the calendar from 2007 into 2008 saw Corey Brown and Dorian Bell increasingly mentioned as a combo deal.  They were both good friends, but so much of their junior season of football (and, thus, the last 4 months or so of 2007) saw them pursued and discussed somewhat separately.  This changed in early 2008.  Don Callahan covered Dorian and Corey’s visit to UNC, one of many schools to offer both Gateway stars.  Therein, Callahan revealed that Dorian and Corey would no longer take separate visits for the duration of their recruitment¹ and would likely select the same college.  As the months progressed, Dorian began to make it known that he was going to accept Ohio State’s offer by the end of April.  Ohio State, in spite of being listed as a verbal offer at the end of August 2007, was the one school high on Corey’s list to have not extended an official offer.  Even with a wealth of options, Corey seemed willing to wait and made his recruitment contingent on what Ohio State would do.  When Dorian Bell finally announced his decision, a visibly excited Corey was waiving an Ohio State flag in the background at the presser.  Dorian, the good friend he is, was doing his part.  He used what capital he had as one of the Buckeyes’ top 2009 targets to sway Ohio State into formally offering his confidante.

I had a long conversation with Dorian Bell late last night and will have a premium article posted shortly. At the end of our conversation Bell said to me, “Can I make a request?” I said sure. Bell then said, “Please get (Ohio State) to offer Corey (Brown).” Corey Brown is of course one of Bell’s teammates. Bell said where Brown goes would not be a factor in his decision, but it would be nice if they ended up at the same school.

It may have been Dorian’s plea.  It may have been Corey’s enthusiasm at his friend’s commitment presser.  It may have been Darrell Givens’ switcharoo to Penn State.  It may have just been, well, about damn time.  Whatever the case, Gateway coach Terry Smith broke the news to Dotting the I that Corey finally got his official offer on May 12, 2008.  It was the offer for which he had been waiting.  On that day, Luke Fickell dropped by Gateway SHS to tell Corey that an offer would finally be forthcoming.  Corey called Tressel so that he could hear it from the horse’s mouth.  It was a relief for Corey.

Brown has long been very interested in Ohio State so the offer from the Buckeyes was a big one.

“I was very excited,” Brown said when asked about his conversation with Tressel. “I felt real good. I told coach Tressel I was excited and I wanted to get out there again soon. I’ll probably get out there in the next couple weeks.”

While necessarily maintaining a poker face about evaluating his options and not letting Dorian’s decision sway him, most people could predict how this would end.  Dorian even started to nag Corey about when he was going to make it official.  On June 20, Dorian made his way to Ohio State for the Senior Advanced Camp (when and where Duron Carter also committed).  Two days later, he announced he was going to make a decision within the week.

His Commitment: It doesn’t seem Corey was able to contain his excitement.  While announcing his decision would go public within the week, he ended up committing the next day.  While trying to maintain some kind of secrecy around his preferences (by discussing Michigan and WVU after getting his Ohio State offer), there was no surprise for those walking in to Corey’s presser and seeing Corey Brown wearing a scarlet sweatervest, Ohio State ballcap, and flanked by family and friends wearing Ohio State gear.  He, like Terrelle Pryor and Lamaar Thomas, was going to commit to The University of Ohio State.

The brief video of the press conference, as well as the words provided to Bucknuts, underscore how academic this decision was.  Corey Brown was long fascinated with Ohio State, even when big time offers were pouring in and Ohio State was withholding their trump card on the issue.  He was fascinated with what he saw on his unofficial visits to Columbus and really connected with the coaches during that time.  Like his friend Dorian, it was impossible to say no to Ohio State.

Corey’s commitment to Ohio State fills a void left by Givens’ sudden about-face in favor of the Nittany Lions.  Told repeatedly that the coaching staff has defensive back in mind for him to fill that void, Corey’s decision to join his friend and teammate at Ohio State again gives the Buckeyes (arguably) the best combo deal in the country like they had last year with the tandems of Stoneburner-Adams and Howard-Sabino.

Where He Excels: Corey was recruited to Ohio State with defensive back in mind for him.  However, his flexibility has led to the question of whether he truly is a best fit in the secondary or if he should move to wide receiver at the next level.  His performance at the Army All-American Bowl as a wide receiver, where he made a spectacular 34yd touchdown grab on a pass from Tajh Boyd, brought the issue up again.  Darrell Hazell tried to allay these questions by recently saying Corey will start out as defensive back, but Ted Ginn Jr was brought to Ohio State with the thought of being the second coming of Deion Sanders as well.  With this still essentially an open question until demonstrated otherwise on the field, it’s important for Buckeye fans to know what Corey brings to the table at both positions.

As a wide receiver, Corey resembles more of your possession receiver-types.  He has a nice frame for a receiver, at a lean 6’2 and 185lbs.  Every receiver has to do something to be able to create separation.  In Corey’s case, he demonstrates an ability to create that separation early into the route, as opposed to your fly route options (like Ted Ginn Jr) that create separation with a “second gear”.  He has a solid burst from the snap, and those first few seconds are the most important for receivers.  For a high schooler, his routes are rather polished and he already does a better job at identifying coverages than most people coming in to college football.  His hands likely have magnets in them that suck in most passes.  This compliments inherent awareness rather well.

As a defensive back, Corey resembles more of your tall, smothering jammer-types.  His long arms are disruption devices that can jolt receivers in bump and run settings.  He’s fast enough for corner and may even get a look at free safety depending on how things shake out.  While dogged for his speed as a receiver, he demonstrates the ability to turn his hips and ride wide receivers as if he were attached to their belt loop.  His receiver instincts and sure hands make the threat of disaster on an errant or ill-advised pass even more credible.  His closing speed is more than adequate when playing a safety position.  The promise of him evolving into a ballhawking nightmare is very real.

Whatever the position, Corey is praised by his coach and teammates as being very level headed during the course of a game.   A competitor to be sure, Corey isn’t quite the howler that Dorian Bell is.  Not effusive in self-congratulation or prone to fits at low points in a game², Corey looks to be coachable, hard-working and mature whatever the position.

Must Work On: Stop me if you heard this before, Buckeye fans, but Corey Brown lacks speed at the receiver position.  Surely he’s not alone for college receivers who rely on crisp routes and on-field awareness to create separation, but there’s real questions about Corey’s speed controlling for that expectation about his style of play.  The anxiety is that Corey Brown, the receiver, would rarely be any help on downfield heaves and would provide little in the yards-after-catch department.

As a possible corner prospect, it’s not clear that Corey will immediately grasp the nuances of Ohio State’s soft zone mentality when bump and run seemed to be all of what he did as a cornerback for the Gateway Gators.  This is a minor point.  Defensive back was also a relatively new thing for Corey; he started playing it when there was a need at the position for his team.  Consequently, I see a few things that need to be ironed out.  I’d like to see him get a little lower when preparing to make a tackle in run support.  He also seems to get a little too touchy, for lack of better term, in coverage and seems to lose track of when he needs to disengage.  Pass interference penalties may come up.

If Forced to Choose: It seems Corey has his heart set out on wide receiver.  Admitting that he’ll play anywhere if it means actually playing in a game, wide receiver is still his first preference.  However, the Buckeyes have a glut at wideout at the moment and it’s not clear that Corey provides an upgrade over any of their other options at the moment.  The secondary, on the other hand, is very much wide open.  The Buckeyes lose two starting corners and will soon lose Coleman and Russell to graduation at safety.  This year alone, freshman — redshirt or true — will invariably factor into the two-deep precisely because there’s that much openness at those positions.  Unlike his potential contributions to the wide receiver corp, I see Corey as bringing a unique wrinkle to the secondary with his fluidity and natural ball skills.  With two-way players increasingly rare, and seldom effective on both sides of the ball³, I’m expecting Corey Brown to start at defensive back and remain a defensive back during his Buckeye career.

Of course, something could change this summer that brings Corey Brown into the receiver corp.  I’m fine with whatever works; and by “works”, I mean whatever brings pain and humiliation to our enemies.

Miscellany:

• Corey and his teammate Dorian Bell played in the Hawaii-Mainland exhibition game in December.  The Mainland team, for whom Corey played, dominated Hawaii and Corey played lead aggressor in the win.  He picked off 3 Hawaii passes.
• If 3 interceptions in that game aren’t enough to underscore how much of a natural he is in the secondary, he did win MVP at the State College Nike combine as a defensive back.
• I think Corey Brown was the only player in the class who was not adversely affected — rankings-wise — by committing to Ohio State.  He was bumped from 4 stars to 5 stars by Rivals.com after a dominating performance at the Hawaii-Mainland game and the US Army All-American Bowl.
• Corey’s Gateway Gators played future teammate John Simon’s Cardinal Mooney Cardinals in their junior seasons (2007).  Mooney won 27-6; it was Gateway’s only loss that year before losing deep in the playoffs to Central Catholic in the AAAA finale.
• His senior season ended on a bit of a sour note.  #3 nationally ranked Gateway had steamrolled all foes before being stunned by Bethel Park in the AAAA Championship game, again.
• Rich Rodriguez tried to work some snake oil on Corey Brown.  3 months after his commitment, Michigan was still calling, trying to get Corey Brown to take a visit to a home game.  Corey refused to oblige.
• I heart the Pitt Post-Gazette since they’re the best resource conceivable for people like me who will occasionally have to do write-ups on one of the area’s prep stars.  In their Fabulous 22 feature, they interviewed Corey Brown (along with Dorian Bell and Jordan Hall).  Therein, Corey admitted that his favorite food is grilled cheese and tomato soup and that he regularly uses his Wii Fit.
• Pre-compiled stats, courtesy of Bucknuts:

* Vital statistics: Brown is a talented two-way prospect who projects as a defensive back for the Buckeyes. As a senior, Brown was picked to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 all-metro team. He caught 42 passes for 708 yards and had a school-record 15 touchdown passes. Gateway ended up 12-1 after a loss to Bethel Park in the WPIAL Class AAAA championship game. He starred in a pair of national all-star games. He had three interceptions in the Hawaii-Mainland game in December and caught a touchdown pass in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in January. As a junior, Brown had 23 receptions and three touchdowns on offense and recorded 40 tackles and four interceptions on defense.

* Rankings: Rated as the nation’s No. 17 athlete prospect nationally by ESPN.com. SuperPrep considers Brown as an All-American, ranking him the fifth-best prospect in Pennsylvania and the nation’s No. 18 defensive back.

In my humble opinion, Corey Brown is now better known.

Cue the board:

Class of 2009
Name	Position	Hometown	Better Known?	Name	Position	Hometown	Better Known?
CJ Barnett	DB	Clayton, OH	02.20	Marcus Hall	OL	Glenville, OH
Dorian Bell	LB	Monroeville, PA	04.10	Adam Homan	FB	Coldwater, OH	01.29
Adam Bellamy	DT	Aurora, OH	05.26	Carlos Hyde	RB	Naples, FL	06.29
Jaamal Berry	RB	Miami, FL		James Jackson	WR	Grand Ledge, TSUN	03.05
Zach Boren	FB	Pickerington, OH	01.22	Storm Klein	LB	Nerk, Ahia	02.02
Corey Brown	WR/DB	Monroeville, PA	07.13	Corey Linsley	OL	Youngstown, OH	05.11
Duron Carter	WR	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	06.03	Sam Longo	OL	Belbrook, OH
Dominic Clarke	DB	Frederick MD	02.11	Jack Mewhort	OL	Toledo, OH	02.05
Melvin Fellows’ Safari Planet	DE	Garfield Heights, OH	04.24	Jonathan Newsome	LB/DE	Glenville, OH
Chris Fields	WR	Painesville, OH	04.02	John Simon	DE	Youngstown, OH	03.26
Reid Fragel	TE	Grosse Pointe, TSUN	05.18	Jordan Whiting	LB	Louisville, KY	03.12
Kenny Guiton	QB	Aldine, TX		Jamie Wood	DB	Pickerington, OH	02.26
Jordan Hall	ATH	Jeannette, PA	04.20

1. If I recall correctly, they seldom did anyways. [↩]
2. I’m not saying Dorian Bell is either. [↩]
3. Think of 2002 Chris Gamble and others, but you’d be thinking of exceptions and not the rule. [↩]