Signing Day Capsule: DJ Brown
DJ BROWN – CORNERBACK
ISD: 3-star
Composite: 3-star
Washington, DC (St. John’s College HS)
6-1, 185 pounds
Recruiter: Todd Lyght/Terry Joseph
Recruitment Rundown: Brown deserves a lot of credit for the maturity he displayed during the process. A longtime Virginia commit, Brown was set to take an official visit to Notre Dame in December before the Irish cancelled the visit during the week because they thought they’d reach their quota at the position. But when that player – or players depending on who you talk to – didn’t end up with Notre Dame, the Irish circled back to Brown in January. Instead of harboring any ill will toward Notre Dame, Brown added a stop in South Bend for an official visit to an already-scheduled trip to Northwestern a couple weeks ago. When he returned from the Midwest, he decommitted from Virginia and listed the Irish, the Wildcats and Cal as his finalists. Academics was obviously key here as were the efforts of Lyght and Joseph.
St. John’s College HS DB coach Don Cox: “He has a baseball player’s mentality as a centerfielder. He will go find the ball. He transitions out of his T-step as good as any player I’ve coached over the years. He tracks the ball extremely well because, once again, he has that baseball player’s mentality. When he sees the ball, he’s going to go get it.
“As a press corner, he uses that long frame of his to be physical when he needs to be, but he has great hips and speed that makes him a threat. With most big corners, it’s hard for them to move. It’s hard for them to get down to pad level to drop their hips. But DJ, once again being a baseball player, his hips are already fluid.
“He is a kid who I know is going to be an outstanding defensive back in any conference. He’s a kid who I truly believe, if he stays on the path and keeps working hard, God is going to give him a chance to maybe have a career on Sundays.”
ISD expert Jamie Uyeyama: I think Brown is capable of playing either the field or boundary corner and that he can really thrive playing in zone coverage. I’m not sure if he has the potential be an elite player in man coverage, though, although his physicality and instincts can help him be an effective player in most schemes.
I think his ceiling is probably higher at safety than it is at corner, but he does a lot of things well. Mike brought up Robert Blanton when we spoke about Brown on Power Hour recently and I think he’s a good player comparison for Brown’s ceiling.
Blanton wasn’t the fastest or the biggest player in the secondary, but he made a number of plays for the Irish based off of superior instincts and a great compete level. I see some of Blanton in Brown’s game and Blanton ended up as a safety in the NFL. It’s a long way before we know if Brown has an NFL future or not, but I think he has a chance to be a good contributor for the Irish that can make plays versus the run and pass.