LU QB Brown strikes fear in Ball State coach

Count Stan Parrish as a member of the Mike Brown admiration society.

“Mike Brown might be as good a quarterback as we’re going to face all year,” the second-year Ball State coach said of the Liberty junior. “That’s certainly not lip service. This kid can throw it. He can run. He’s just a really great looking player. I don’t know if we’re going to face a much better player.”

That’s high praise considering the Cardinals travel next week to Purdue to meet the Boilermakers and Miami transfer Robert Marve before heading to Iowa to meet the Ricky Stanzi-led Hawkeyes, who won the Orange Bowl last season. First, though Parrish understands his Cardinals will have their hands full this Saturday at Scheumann Stadium trying to handle Brown.

There was some thought that Brown’s success in his first start — last season at Lafayette — was attributable to the fact that the Leopards had little film of Brown playing quarterback, therefore they had no real idea how to defend him.

Of course St. Francis, last week’s Liberty opponent, had that film and nine months to prepare for Brown, and the junior simply tore the Red Flash apart, completing 17 of 22 passes for 338 yards and four touchdowns. His two-start tally: 46-for-58, 580 yards, five TDs, no interceptions.

“His numbers are just phenomenal,” Flames coach Danny Rocco said. “I doubt if anybody has their first two starts be as significant statistically as he had there.”

Now comes the next challenge for Brown — figuring out how to beat teams that design their entire defensive schemes around slowing him down.

Opponents will continue to compile film and try to find tendencies to exploit. And though Brown has “worn a target,” Rocco said, for the better part of the last year because of his prowess as a receiver, he’ll have to find ways to adjust now that he’s the focal point of the entire offense.

The safe bet is that Brown will do just that. He’s not a one-dimensional quarterback. His strength is his pinpoint accuracy on quick passes — two of his incompletions Saturday were drops — and against the Red Flash, he showed an ability to throw the deep ball with the same sort of accuracy. Add in his athleticism, his ability to turn broken plays into plus plays with his running prowess, and Brown is extremely difficult to slow down — no matter how much film an opposing coaching staff watches.

“It really comes down to his ability to be efficient and consistent and productive with the football,” Rocco said. “And making good decisions, because now, he’s making a lot more decisions.”

One aspect of Brown’s preparation has smoothed the transition from receiver to full-time starter at QB. Even though Brown spent most of his time at receiver last season, much of his practice time was spent working with the quarterbacks, learning the entire offense rather than just one of the three receiver positions.

“Tommy (Beecher) and I used to watch film all the time in preparation,” Brown said. “Now I have to be even more conscious of what type of defense is out there, what types of looks they’re giving us, where as in the past, it was maybe reading half the field, and now I’m reading the whole field.

“For me, it’s just more time in the film room, and it’s a different type of practice.”

As for the hype and praise from opposing coaches like Parrish, Brown tries to tune it out.

“I don’t really listen to that stuff,” he said. “I’ve just got to take it one game at a time and try to put our team in the best situation to win. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters to me.”

Read Lang’s blog at www.mynewsadvance.com and follow him on Twitter @ChrisLangLNA.