Kevin Brown

Kevin Brown
Position	S
Height - Weight	6'1", 195 lbs
Hometown	Indianapolis, IN
High School	Lawerence Central
247 Sports	*** - 81
Rivals	** - 5.4
ESPN	*** - 76
Scout	***

Kevin Brown is another Indianapolis recruit who is bound to sign with the Bearcats and plays for Lawrence Central. While lacking the historical football success of a Warren Central, Lawrence is no slouch in football as the Bears advanced to the 5A Indiana state finals in 2010. Basically if you’re looking at the solid football programs in Indianapolis, check out Warren Central, Lawrence Central, Pike, Ben Davis, and Cathedral especially if you’re following Bearcats recruiting as Cincinnati has tapped those high schools pretty hard for talent.

Overview

If you’re looking for a traditional safety talent, Brown is it. Playing the safety position requires a specific mentality as they are the last line of defense on the football team. Safeties have to have good overall vision to be able to watch the quarterback’s eyes to see where he’s looking to throw the football but also keep an eye on the receivers if they are breaking away from their man coverage. This is especially tricky in the Cover-1 where the cornerbacks are in man coverage and there is a single safety behind the entire defense trying to keep everything in front of him. Getting back to Brown, I think he performs that role well by understanding the flow of the play and reading where the quarterback is going with the ball. That’s half the battle of playing safety as there isn’t anyone backing you up if you make a mistake.

Outlook

Brown will transition smoothly from playing safety at Lawrence Central to playing the same position with the Bearcats. In some situations, safeties in high school can transition to cornerback but I don’t think Brown has the hip flexibility to play man coverage. If there was going to be any change in college he could definitely play the outside linebacker position as that understand he learned as a safety is very valuable at the SAM or WILL positions. At 6’1″ and pushing 200 lbs, he has the frame to add 10 – 20 lbs over the course of his Bearcats career and slide into that spot easily. When he steps onto campus, depending on where he ends up, he could take a redshirt. But at the same time outside linebacker and safety in 2012 could have a lot of opportunities for true freshman to see playing time so Brown could very well see the field gaining experience in special teams or somewhere on the 2-deep.