OU Cornerback Tre Brown 'Looks Completely Different' Than Last Year
Tre Brown has always been good.
But Oklahoma’s senior cornerback knows he’s going to have to do so much more if he wants to be great.
So far this preseason, reports out of Sooner training camp are that Brown has been great.
“I’ll tell you what,” OU cornerbacks coach Roy Manning said Wednesday on a video press conference, “I’m really excited about he steps he’s taken from January until now.”
Manning isn’t alone in praising Brown’s rise this year. Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch pulled Brown’s name out of the blue last week while pondering which players had stepped up their game.
“Tre Brown,” Grinch said. “A year ago, he wasn’t a leader by example. He had his good days, but then he was too willing to just have a bad day. And I think Tre would tell you the same thing. And I’m not just talking about the season. I’m talking about in fall camp and those things.
“But all of a sudden you’re seeing a guy with just a work ethic and a want-to every single rep of practice. I highlight him simply by example. It’s not the vocal side of things, but that’s as critical as anything.”
Brown has been a mainstay in the OU secondary since midway through his freshman year, when he came on in an emergency situation at Oklahoma State and stemmed the tide in a taut Sooner victory.
Brown again was inserted into the starting lineup as a sophomore year and stayed there the final eight games. He led the team with 12 passes defensed and was fifth on the squad with 58 tackles.
Last year, Brown’s game continued to grow as he started all 14 games, registered 40 tackles and broke up 11 passes.
He’s had a penchant for delivering big plays in grandiose moments. Brown’s sack of Sam Ehlinger produced a safety and clinched the 2018 Big 12 Championship Game, and his off-the-ball rundown of Baylor speedster Chris Platt saved a touchdown and allowed the Sooners to win the 2019 title game in overtime.
But now Brown is playing like a man who’s confident enough to deliver game-changing plays on every snap.
“To his credit, he looks completely different than a year ago,” Manning said. “As committed right now as I’ve seen since I’ve been here to his technique, and it’s allowing him to make plays and make plays consistently. He is playing at a really high level right now.
“So the challenge will be, can you be consistent? Can you do it do not only in drills or in practice, can you now transfer that to the big stage and the games here in a few weeks? He’s put in a lot of work. You would hope he would take that step, him being a senior, being a guy that’s played in so many ballgames here.”
That happens to a lot of players as their career winds down: the urgency of being a senior takes over the motivation aspect, and the finality of a college career coming to an end draws something out of them that wasn’t there before.
It’s also just the nature of football player coming into his own, the benefit of maturity and experience and confidence.
“It’s probably a combination of both,” Manning said. “Obviously, going into your senior year, you hope as a coach that that light really goes on — ‘Hey man, this is it for you. This is your opportunity now not only to play your best but to also put some good film on tape if you have any aspirations to play at the next level.’
“I definitely think that’s part of his motivation, and it should be. The other part of it is that he’s just worked so hard to get to this point that you expect to see a guy peaking. You expect to see a guy peaking at this stage of his career.”
There’s another element to Brown’s growth, Manning said. This is his second year in Alex Grinch’s system, his second year being coached by Manning. Of course he’s going to show improvement.
But Brown has taken the matter into his own hands with his actions and his attitude.
“He’s leading the charge right now. I’m not afraid to say that,” Manning said. “He is leading by example in everything he does, and a big part of that is his urgency and his ability to stack days — he even uses that term on the day-to-day: ‘Hey, let’s stack days, let’s stack days.’ Because he understands, you can’t have a roller coaster year.
“He understands that for this team to be successful, particularly on defense, he has to play at a high level and stay there. And so it’s really been a matter of focusing in on that, not making it more than it is, being confident in who he is and his ability, and then allowing his ability to take over once you eliminate the thinking.”
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