A recurring series where we will profile every player on Maryland's roster, counting down to kick-off against William & Mary on September 1. Thanks to OBNUG for the idea.
Today we profile Maryland's other incoming four-star running back.
Wes Brown, Freshman, Tailback, #4
Stats:
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 220
Major: Business
Twitter: None that we could find.
Collegiate Stats: N/A
High School Stats (Senior Year): 158 rushes for 1,382 yards and 22 touchdowns
Recruiting Ratings: Four stars by Rivals (#188 overall, #5 in MD, #14 RB), Scout (#11 RB), 24/7 (#171 overall, #5 in MD, #11 RB), three stars by ESPN (#11 in MD, #27 RB)
High School: Good Counsel
Hometown: Olney, Md.
High School Highlights:
How'd He Get to College Park?
Not too long ago, Wes Brown and Stefon Diggs were thought of as pipe dreams for the Maryland program. Both were highly talented skill position players from local powerhouse Good Counsel who had offers from nearly every major program across the country. The Terps were coming off a 2-10 season, and players were leaving the program by the dozen. Then a funny thing happened - they replaced Gary Crowton with Mike Locksley.
With Locksley came Zach Dancel, a former safety at New Mexico. Dancel was also a quarterback at Good Counsel, and Brown lived with the Dancels. Brown committed to Maryland shortly after, at the Under Armour All-American Game.
Brown picked Maryland over Vanderbilt, Miami and Colorado, and was also offered by Notre Dame, Florida State, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State, among others. He was selected consensus first team all-state and second team All-Met. When asked "why Maryland?" by Matt Bracken, he spoke of the proximity to his family, and said "I'd rather they spend money on gas than on plane tickets."
Nickname:
"World Wide" Wes Brown. One of his real nicknames is "Dark Knight", so take your pick.
Career Highlight:
Winning three straight WCAC titles.
Career Lowlight:
N/A.
Dream Season:
Brown starts from the get-go, earning freshman All-American honors.
Nightmare Season:
Brown struggles in his first year a la Justus Pickett.
2012 Prospectus:
Like Albert Reid, who we profiled yesterday, Wes Brown is technically in a three-way battle for the fourth running back spot with his two fellow true freshmen (Reid and Joe Riddle) - but that won't be the case come September 1. Brown and Reid (and probably Riddle) will almost definitely have surpassed walk-on Kwabena Ofori by that time, and possibly Brandon Ross.
Brown is a power-back by nature, but a feature back by trade. He's built as a north-south runner, and uses that style often, but also has the quickness and burst to be a top-of-the-line ACC running back. The question, for now, is how much of that will we see in his freshman year?
He'll almost certainly play, as the Terps have too much uncertainty at running back not to try him out. Justus Pickett has a ton of talent but was inconsistent (at best) last year, and Brandon Ross is a large question mark, in large part due to the fact that he hails from the football powerhouse of Delaware.
With Brown, Reid, Pickett and Ross, Maryland certainly has a stable of young running backs built for the future. Brown, the only power guy of the group, has his place cemented as the key element of that attack. Who joins him as the change-of-pace back will be an interesting battle to watch this season.
Up Next:
Our next player went to a high school that produced a US Olympic Swimmer this year. The swimmer did not medal in his event, but goes to an SEC school. Name the player, the swimmer, the event, and the guy that actually got gold.
Maryland1206 ties it up.
Standings:
Terpsonfire - 11
Maryland1206 - 11
Dirty_Terps - 9
kbuts151 - 6
bubbasparks - 4
ClickClack62 - 3
Terpsfinish - 2
curterp - 2
fballplyr92 - 2
T Free - 1
Mdak06 - 1
clevesanterp - 1
CSB Jack - 1
Everybody else - 0