Jared Brown looking to take the next step as a player
Jared Brown will be playing a different role than he has in the past now that he’s stepped up to the SEC level at South Carolina.
The redshirt junior arrived at Coastal Carolina as an underrecruited high school prospect out of Parkview High in Georgia.
By the time he left Conway via the transfer portal, he’d made a significant impact for the Chanticleers: 108 catches for 1,534 yards and 11 touchdowns. That’s in addition to 35 carries for 439 yards and two more scores.
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After the 2023 season wrapped, Brown was ready to take his game to the top level of college football in the Southeastern Conference. He turned down scholarships from Auburn, Louisville, and others in favor of heading to Columbia.
“I came here to be a complete receiver,” Brown said during a recent appearance on The Garnet Trust Hour.
Brown arrived in January, going through winter workouts before spring ball got ramped up. Once practice began, Shane Beamer and his staff made the decision to shift Brown from an exclusive slot player to an outside receiver.
He’s enjoyed the transition so far.
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“I feel like if I can play inside and outside, that’ll be better for me. I would say the big difference for me is having somebody in front of you the whole game. I’m not really used to that. I’m used to free access,” he explained.
Playing outside has also opened up more route options for Brown, who had identified his route running as an area that he wanted to improve after last season.
“That’s really one thing that I need to work on,” said Brown. “Like at Coastal, we were in a triple option offense, so I wasn’t really running routes like that. One thing I’m really going to harp on this summer is the route tree and the mental aspect of the game.”
Brown noted that the competition level – facing off against guys like OD Fortune, Judge Collier, and other South Carolina defensive backs this spring – is making him better.
“I love to compete. I go against OD every day, and OD really opened my eyes. I was like, this is what I’ve got. I feel like Judge is really going to make me take that next step. Judge likes to put his hands on you, and Judge is long, so just going against him and getting one-on-one reps, those are going to help me. It’s going to translate to the game, the stuff I do in practice.”
