Most Duke football fans at Wallace Wade Stadium probably didn’t expect redshirt freshman Que’Sean Brown to lead the Blue Devils in every receiving category against Connecticut on Saturday, but his teammates and coaches were not among those surprised.
Brown caught 11 passes for 87 yards against the Huskies, and he reeled in his first touchdown of the season on a 20-yard go-ahead score in the fourth quarter. He made an impressive play on the ball there, too, spinning around to play the back-shoulder pass perfectly.
“It was one-on-one coverage,” Brown said after the game. “They (Duke’s coaches) said, ‘If they ever play you in man coverage, it’s disrespect, take advantage of that.'”
The Winston-Salem native, who stands 5-foot-8, also converted a key third down on Duke’s final drive. He found an opening for a 13-yard gain on third-and-7, moving the chains on a drive that saw the Blue Devils waste the final six minutes of clock.
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Diaz made a point to emphasize that Brown’s coaches and teammates have seen this player all offseason.
“If you ask anybody on our roster, they would tell you they saw that all August in training camp,” Diaz said. “He just started making play after play as he got comfortable in the offense…Just talking to the kids on defense, if you ask them, they felt like he was one of the hardest guys to cover on our team.”
Many of Brown’s receptions came near the line of scrimmage, taking advantage of his speed and agility to make tacklers miss for more yards. He credited his father for the mentality he brings as a ball carrier.
“My dad said, ‘Every time you get the ball, you should want to score a touchdown,'” Brown said after the game. “So with that mindset, it’s like, I’m not going to let this first guy tackle me…I just have that mindset, every time I get the ball that I’m trying to score a touchdown.”
The moments Duke turned to Brown further emphasized the team’s faith in him. Eight of his receptions came after halftime, and seven of them came on second or third down.
[autotag]Jordan Moore[/autotag] remains a candidate for the school’s single-season school receiving record, and sixth-year wideout [autotag]Eli Pancol[/autotag] caught his team-leading fourth touchdown pass against the Huskies, but Brown has clearly emerged as a steady contributor to the offense.