2015 Texas Longhorns Football Recruiting: DE/TE/ATH Louis Brown Commitment #12

Former Baylor commitment Louis Brown is Strong's 12th commitment in the 2015 class.  He also held offers from OU, Notre Dame, Oregon and Oklahoma State.  Brown is rated a three star on a Rivals Texas 100 that looks increasingly like it was crafted by chimps randomly pulling names from a hat after the Top 20 players while ESPN and 24-7 both consider him a solid four star.  Indeed, 24-7 has Brown rated as the #15 prospect in the entire state.

Brown is another glimpse into the staff recruiting mindset of focusing on frame over weight, athleticism and quickness over straight line speed and valuing players with motors that seem to enjoy lighting people up.  Brown is a big-framed 6-6, 208 pounds who looks like he could hold another 40 with ease. Given the earlier commitment of the 6-5+ Charles Omenihu, Strong and Chris Rumph clearly love tall, athletic DEs.

Brown is a jack-of-all-trades, lining up as an edge rusher (and occasional slot defender) on defense and as a fullback, tight end and wide receiver on offense.  I interpret Brown's positional versatility less as commentary on an uncertain skill set, but more as a 2A head coach's desire to wring every snap he can out of the best athlete on the field.  Brown consistently demonstrates fantastic athleticism - moving well laterally and over small areas adeptly despite his high base (check out the spin move as a ballcarrier 5:17)  - and he has a basketball players fluidity.

While Brown would be a very good tight end candidate,  the coaching staff currently covets him as a weak side defensive end who is comfortable in space (look at 3:15, 6:26), can drop into short zones and menace quick routes, or come off of the edge and harass quarterbacks with his wingspan.  Basically, an edge player designed with the Big 12 in mind.  Redshirt him, hand him to Moorer and get back a chiseled power forward in 2017.

Very nice pick-up.