Max Brown making strides for Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — During his junior and senior seasons at Lincoln Christian School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Max Brown was dominant. He completed 71.6% of his pass attempts for more than 4,000 yards and 68 touchdowns to just 10 interceptions. He added 2,335 yards and 33 more scores on the ground.

Despite that, Brown was rated the No. 62 quarterback in the 2022 On3 rankings. When Brown came on Florida’s radar he was committed to former Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain and the Central Michigan Chippewas, hardly a recruiting rival for Florida.

“I think he’s a classic example of a really good athlete and just started playing quarterback a couple of years in high school,” Billy Napier said of Brown on Thursday. “And we took the guy. For those reasons specifically. The pedigree of an athlete. The guy is a really good baseball player. The guy can run.”

Brown enrolled early at Florida and spent the 2022 season redshirting. A two-way star in football and baseball at Lincoln Christian, Brown continued that in college, playing baseball for the Gators last spring. The redshirt freshman had to manage playing baseball, school, and then spring camp.

“Time management is the biggest thing. Just, what am I doing at this time, when am I at baseball? Communication is a real big thing and coach [Billy] Napier, coach [Kevin] O’Sullivan were really flexible and really good with the scheduling side of it,” Brown said in the spring. “Coach Napier really got my schedule solidified coming into it and coach O’Sullivan was really understanding. Them two being at Clemson together was kind of another big thing. They already had past experiences with each other. So, I think going into it was kind of an easy transition into football and baseball.”

Two sports didn’t slow down Max Brown’s development

Brown wasn’t close to playing last season. Anthony Richardson had a stangle hold on the starting role. Jack Miller and Jalen Kitna were ahead of him on the depth chart as well. Brown needed to work. His footwork wasn’t great, the playbook was immense, and the speed was greater than anything he’d experienced. Typical freshman quarterback issues.

Brown has worked closely with Napier and Ryan O’Hara on his footwork.

“The quarterback blueprint that the use of the summer is pretty rigorous. And I think he’s benefited from that, but there’s no doubt his accuracy is improved. I think he’s cleaned up his footwork, his stroke is much more consistent,” Napier said. “And again, I think there’s some knowledge that contributes to that table in terms of understanding the system, so I think Max has come along pretty nicely. there’s an information gap there. He’s got to catch up mentally. But his work ethic this summer has impressed the staff and impressed the players. So he’s kind of got right in there and Graham’s hip pocket and he’s worked the way that you would want a quarterback to work.”

Brown isn’t going to win the starting quartrback job in 2023 but he can compete to be the backup. His athleticism is his biggest differentiator in the Gators’ quarterback room. Not that Miller and Mertz are immobile, but Brown can really run.

“There’s no question as a player that’s one of the strengths that he has,” Napier said of Brown’s running ability. “He would bring up. There’d be an element to his game and I think contribute to your team if if he was playing.”