Terps’ ‘Grandpa’ leads both teams in rushing
C.J. Brown has been a Maryland quarterback since the first year of the Obama administration. In six years he’s been through two major injuries, two head coaches, two athletic directors, three offensive coordinators, even two conferences.
All good things must come to an end, though, and he’ll soon leave the Terrapins armed with a bachelor’s degree in communications, a master’s in business and management, and a full professorship. No, the third one isn’t true. It just seems to some of his teammates that he should be a faculty member.
“They call me Pops and Grandpa and all that,’’ Brown, 23, said Saturday at a San Francisco news conference to promote Tuesday’s Foster Farms Bowl against Stanford at Levi’s Stadium.
The 6-foot-3, 218-pound Brown is the man the Cardinal have to thwart. He is one of just five quarterbacks in the country who led their teams in rushing. His 569 net yards rushing — he grossed more than 700 before the sacks were subtracted — is the third highest total for a season by any quarterback in program history. It’s also more than the 565 that Remound Wright had to lead Stanford in rushing.
“He’s extremely athletic,’’ Stanford safety Jordan Richards said. “It’s kind of interesting to watch a quarterback that doesn’t slide. He’s physical. He’s a big dude.’’
Terps head coach Randy Edsall has cautioned Brown to slide at times to protect himself. Taking it easy on his body, though, isn’t high on Brown’s list of priorities.
“He’s from western Pennsylvania — they’re tough out there,’’ Edsall said. “For him it helps to get him going when he gets hit a little bit. Sometimes we want him to carry the ball early on. I think it loosens him up a little bit.’’
Brown probably was meant to be a Big Ten quarterback, although his journey to get there required a lot of work, both on the field and in the trainers’ room. It also required Maryland to flee the Atlantic Coast Conference.
It all happened this year with the move to the Big Ten, and the son of a former Michigan State quarterback couldn’t be happier with how it has turned out. Unfortunately, his offensive line hasn’t always been as protective as it should be. That partly explains why his quarterback rating took a dip when he faced Big Ten heavyweights like Ohio State, Wisconsin and Michigan State.
His full name, by the way, is Clark David Brown Jr. So why “C.J.’’ and not “C.D.’’ “I’m a junior, so I guess that’s where the J came from,’’ he said. “You’d have to ask my parents.’’
One of the top quarterback prospects in the nation, he was recruited to Maryland by thenhead coach Ralph Friedgen and assistant James Franklin, now head coach at Penn State. Brown redshirted in 2009. The next year, on his first college play, he plowed over a safety on a designed run, but a linebacker landed on him, fracturing his clavicle.
There was symmetry of sorts there, since he had fractured the other clavicle in high school.
He started five games at Maryland in 2011, and ripped off a 162-yard rushing performance against Clemson. So big things were expected of him in 2012. Instead, he tore his ACL during a noncontact drill in training camp and was out for the season.
He successfully petitioned the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility. In 2013 and again this year, in the Big Ten, he has been one of the most productive players in school history. This season, he passed for 241 yards and rushed for 161 against West Virginia only to see his team lose on a 47-yard field goal as time expired.
“He’s a guy that doesn’t get rattled,’’ Edsall said. “When we’ve played well, it’s because he’s played well.’’