Recruiting background: Under the radar, probably in large part because he missed much of his junior season with an injury. He held a Power 5 offer from Kentucky but said Bowling Green was Minnesota’s biggest competition.
The thing I like most about Brown-Stephens is his quickness. His quick feet will allow him to get in and out of his breaks really well, especially once he’s been coached more on his footwork. Partly because of those quick feet, I really like his route running on short patterns. He has crisp cuts and sets up his routes with good jab steps.
In terms of straight-line speed, he ran an electronic 4.61 40. That’s a fine but not an elite time, and remember, he’s relatively recently coming off an in injury.
His ability after the catch is impressive. On film, he’s not easily tackled by one defender and is always looking for YAC. He has an impressive hurdle at 2:25 on his film. I like his YAC ability.
He’s not afraid of contact. That’s important and necessary for him, since he’s 5’11” and has small-ish build and frame. On film, here are several times that a ball is thrown in a tight gap on a slant where receivers often get alligator arms. MBS secures the catch first and his safety second.
His route running on long routes is very basic, which is likely due to his team’s scheme. If he’s able to fine tune his footwork from 15+ yards out, he’ll become a complete receiver. Obviously, this is very nitpicky considering I’m looking at mostly sophomore film, and the critique is a result of his team’s scheme as much as anything.
His biggest weakness, per se, is that he’s not super tall, but as @umfb27 would point out, taller receivers have not been chosen in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft as much as shorter receivers in recent years. Still, if he was taller that’d be preferable. He is a somewhat small build and frame and will need to add weight to compete at the next level.
Maybe because of his size, blocking is also likely an area of improvement. There’s only one blocking play on his film.
All in all, I like the MBS addition. As I’ve said before, I trust Fleck and his staff’s live evals of receivers. WMU’s receivers were very good. Chris Autman-Bell was a live eval. He was very underrecruited and now may be the second-best receiver on the team. And Rashod Bateman, while they have different skill sets, is maybe the best comparison for their recruitments. Like MBS, Bateman had heard from Minnesota before attending a Gopher satellite camp, and earned an offer from Minnesota -- his first P5 offer -- at the satellite camp. Of course, Bateman blew up and is expected to contribute this year. I’m not saying MBS will be the next Rashod Bateman, but I do trust this staff’s wide receiver evals.
Looking forward to hearing from better football minds than myself. I know @dubwa was a college receiver and @Lane Swansson now coaches receivers.
