• If you're like me, you need some sort of introduction to freshman quarterback prospect Emmett Brown. Turns out there is a solid backstory for this young man.
  Brown threw for over 3,500 yards at San Marcos High School while rushing for a respectable 11 touchdowns. He completed passes for 30 TDs while being picked off 15 times. The latter stat is something coaches can work with him on. As for rankings, he was a three-star prospect and rated the No. 105 quarterback in his class.
  According to Aarik Long of Last Word On Sports, "His touch is incredible. Better than many unrated quarterbacks. He has an uncanny ability to fit the ball into small pockets and give his guy the best chance of coming down with the ball."
  Keep in mind, Long's praise is based on how Brown played against high school-caliber secondarys. Long isn't in high school anymore and will be challenged by the speed of play at the FBS level of college football.
  "Going hand-in-hand with the touch is his ball placement," praised Long. "He can seemingly throw receivers open at any time. Brown makes life extremely hard on a secondary with his ability to place a football where only his guy really has a chance at catching it."
  Long continues his evaluation saying, "...his ability to move his feet is well above average. He has above-average speed, great agility, and a good ability to throw the ball on the run. His agility is easily the best of these three, with his speed coming second. His throws on the run are good, but occasionally you see the ball veer off course, which could be an issue..."
  So why is Brown walking on at WSU instead of securing a scholarship? Well, for one thing that coaches cannot work with him to improve on is his height. Wazzu lists him at 5'10", but apparently that's a bit of a stretch...pun intended. What coaches will work to help Brown correct is his tendency to throw off his front foot. That habit will lead to balls floating more than necessary and raise havoc with accuracy. Because he had a tendency in high school to get rid of the ball quickly, Brown isn't a matter of going through his receiver progressions. Further, when a play takes a little time to develop, such as on deep routes, Brown tends to focus on just one receiver which makes it easy for a good secondary to read the play and jump routes. Again, these are issues good coaching and hard work can correct.
  All that said, Brown is a player with a huge upside based on his arm and athleticism. Ironically, he's trying to win a spot as a backup to Cam Ward and beat out another quarterback who is very similar in every way, redshirt freshman Xavier Ward.

Go Cougs!!!