Nevada CB Daniel Brown looks to shed 'underrated' label in senior season

Nevada secondary coach David Lockwood has coached in the SEC. He’s coached in the Big Ten. He’s coached in the Pac-12. He coached in the Big East when it was a power football conference. He’s even coached at Notre Dame. He’s seen a lot of cornerbacks in his 31 seasons as a coach. But when he first saw Wolf Pack cornerback Daniel Brown on the practice field 16 months ago, he got excited.

“He turned his feet and I said, ‘Wow,’” Lockwood said of his first impression. “The way he turned his feet over is as good, if not better, than anybody I’ve coached. He’s got great feet. He’s got some twitch.”

The Wolf Pack was going through a simple change-of-direction drill in its spring 2018 camp, but Lockwood knew there was something special about Brown. Until last season, when Lockwood joined the Wolf Pack’s staff, Brown was more potential than production. In his first two years at Nevada, Brown played in 20 games. He had just one start with zero interceptions and only 21 tackles.

But his junior campaign was different. Brown started all 13 games for the Wolf Pack, one of three defensive players to do that, and led Nevada with 12 passes broken up, which was the fifth most in the Mountain West. He had a breakout campaign, but Brown didn’t get much postseason love. He was only named honorable mention All-MW and wasn’t on this year’s preseason All-MW team.

But dig a little deeper and you see his value. Among returning MW cornerbacks, nobody rated higher than Brown in Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics, making him one of the best returning cover corners nationally. Brown said the relative lack of media and fan attention doesn’t dig under his skin too much.

“I kind of don’t want to get into that and start looking at it like that, but I do feel like guys are kind of overlooking me and overlooking what I do on the field,” Brown said. “But it’s all going to show itself on Saturday. It’s all good.”

The most likely reason Brown has been overlooked as an elite MW player is his interception total. In 33 career college games, he has just one pick, which he returned for a touchdown last season against FCS opponent Portland State. But he smothered receivers last season and was a big part of Nevada’s vastly improved 2018 defense, which was one of the best in school history. To get more recognition, he'll have to get his hands on more balls this season.

“Everything kind of slowed down for him and the pieces came together, but he’s a great athlete,” defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel said. “It’s just he’s grown a little bit and matured and understands, ‘If you work at it pretty good with your God-given talent, you have a chance to make some noise.’ He’s a good kid and he’ll continue to get better. He’s a competitive guy and he’ll have a good season for us.”

Brown credited Nevada's strength and conditioning staff, led by Jordon Simmons, for improving him physically prior to last season. Brown's work ethic and focus also improved, with Lockwood saying the Southern California native has pro potential. Whether he gets NFL interest will be dictated by how he plays as a senior this season.

“He’s a kid who has some God-given ability,” Lockwood said. “He’s got some twitch. I told him that. It’s one of those deals where you put the work in and grind and make plays on game day, you may have a shot. There are no guarantees, but you have the tools and the makeup to continue playing.”

Brown was actually a basketball player growing up until he went to one of his brother’s Pop Warner games and saw the excitement in the crowd and players. He joined a football team for his seventh-grade season and played quarterback. And despite playing and being productive for Narbonne High, a powerhouse program in the Harbor City area of Los Angeles, Brown didn’t get much recruiting interest until his senior season.

Nevada, who was under the direction of Brian Polian at the time, became the first school to offer him a scholarship and was followed by Mountain West schools Hawaii, Fresno State and UNLV. Brown was talented enough to play as a true freshman and had enough perseverance to stick with the program after a coaching change. He is one of just nine players from Nevada’s 23-man 2016 class still on the roster.

Coach Jay Norvell credited the addition of Lockwood, who joined the staff prior to last year, for helping get Brown to the next level as a player.

“So much of playing in the secondary is seeing situations, down and distance, understanding the strength of players,” Norvell said. “I think Coach Lock’s veteran eyes really taught Daniel how to use his ability and understand the game. We have a really veteran defensive staff with Jackie (Shipp), Coach Lockwood and Coach Jeff. It’s a lot of experience and our kids are really benefiting from that now.”

Brown has more career starts (14) than the rest of Nevada’s secondary combined (12, and that's if you include Daiyan Henley’s four starts at receiver before he was converted to defense). As one of just two seniors in Nevada’s secondary, which includes 23 players, Brown’s leadership will be counted on this season. His advice to the younger defensive backs, and those who have moved from offense to defense to help increase numbers in the secondary, has been simple.

“Game speed is way different from practice, but as long as you’re practicing the way you’re going to play, it will all show itself on Saturdays,” Brown said. “Just practice the best that you can.”

While Brown is still working on getting the recognition he feels he deserves around the MW, he has become more noticeable to Wolf Pack fans in Northern Nevada.

“It’s kind of weird because my first two years I was just like a no-name kid just coming in and working every day and now people kind of recognize you and see what you’re doing and it’s a pretty good feeling, but you can’t let it go to your head,” Brown said. “You definitely feel it throughout the community. Everywhere you go people say, ‘Oh, you play for the Wolf Pack!’ Our expectations for ourselves are way higher now. This is probably the most athletic team we’ve had for a while. We know what we can do and we want to go out and show it.”

Sports columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @MurrayNSN.