TomVH: Catching up with Pharaoh Brown
Ohio defensive end Pharaoh Brown has been committed to Michigan since May and has never looked back. The four star commit has been dubbed as an athletic defensive end with a ton of upside.
He played quarterback and defensive end last year for his high school team and now plans to switch to a different role on offense.
"This season I'll be playing tight end and defensive end," Brown said. "I don't really have a preference of either offense or defense, but I think I would rather play defense."
There was some noise this summer that Brown could potentially move to wide receiver after a seven on seven performance. The Michigan coaches have made it clear though that they want him on the defensive side of the ball, and he's good with that.
The senior season is always special and Brown feels as though they have a good enough team to make the playoffs. He has also set a few goals for himself to finish out his high school career.
"We have a great squad with a lot of seniors this year," he said. "We're projected to go to the playoffs so I think we'll go pretty far. I want to win the conference and make it to the playoffs, that's my goal."
The clock is starting to tick, and I'm sure before he knows it he'll be packing his bags for Ann Arbor. Brown is measuring in at 6 foot 6, 223 pounds right now, which is fine for high school. Michigan's defensive coordinator Greg Mattison has told him he will need to bulk up once he gets to the next level, which is something he's prepared to do.
"My cousin played football in college and had an NFL tryout, so he's been training me," Brown said. "I learned some new technique stuff this off season and I feel pretty good. I know I'll have to put on a lot of weight once I get there so I'll just stay up on lifting and protein shakes."
Brown said he committed to Michigan because of the academics, the scheme, and the whole package that Michigan had to offer. Since he's a part of the 2012 class he had heard the speech from the Michigan coaches, and knew what other prospects were hearing but he was still a little surprised by the quantity and quality of this class.
"I thought we would do well, but I didn't think it would be like this," he said. "I feel pretty good with this class, I think we're going to do big things."
Brown also said that he was doing some recruiting for his future team, and feels like he had a part in Ohio DE Tom Strobel committing as well.
While he's excited for his future at Michigan he is 100% focused on the task at hand this season and finishing out strong. The season starts for Brown when his team takes on Eastlake North at 7pm on August 26th.
Pharaoh Brown Junior Highlights:
August 11th, 2011 at 3:01 PM ^
Damn, he got up to block that punt, that's some athletecism right there. Nice choice of music for the clip too.
August 11th, 2011 at 3:04 PM ^
Strobel --> Kalis
Kalis --> Dunn
Dunn --> Thomas
Have some work to do to finish off those last two links, but I love the trend.
August 11th, 2011 at 3:11 PM ^
MGoGenealogy.
August 11th, 2011 at 3:57 PM ^
M leads for Thomas. Dunn, while interested, is "committed" to OSU.
August 11th, 2011 at 4:49 PM ^
So if you rate graduation year > date verbally committed, his chart would be valid.
August 11th, 2011 at 5:17 PM ^
Yeah, I thought about that... and thought about listing it as:
Dunn <--> Thomas
But I saw a comment somewhere the other day (trying to find it) where it was noted that Thomas would go wherever Dunn goes, which was news to me.
August 11th, 2011 at 6:25 PM ^
That's not true though. I think the quote people were referring to was Thomas saying that if Dunn signed with Michigan, he'd commit. Not that he'd follow him anywhere.
August 11th, 2011 at 9:50 PM ^
The gist of it is that as reported on Scout on 8/6, Brionte Dunn & Dymonte Thomas made a pact some time ago that wherever Dunn signs on NSD, Thomas will commit to the same school on the same day.
However, the update to that is that Thomas is hedging on that agreement now...
August 11th, 2011 at 3:05 PM ^
at least as much of a sleeper as a 4* can be anyway. I'm excited to see that athleticism at the DE position.
August 11th, 2011 at 3:15 PM ^
he's gotta be great. By the way Tom, congrats on BoyVH!
August 11th, 2011 at 9:12 PM ^
August 11th, 2011 at 3:17 PM ^
I have a feeling we will be seeing much of that in the not too distant future.
August 11th, 2011 at 3:23 PM ^
August 11th, 2011 at 3:24 PM ^
Sleep will soon become just a distant memory for you...
August 11th, 2011 at 3:36 PM ^
6'6 - 230
Looks like another Sean Crable to me...
August 11th, 2011 at 3:49 PM ^
given the other DEs we have in this class, if Brown really ends up like Crable, he'll be an enormous asset. crable had backside pursuit speed that most DEs can only dream of.
August 11th, 2011 at 4:09 PM ^
I hope he starts immediately on special teams. Would love to see a couple blocks punts in the future.
August 11th, 2011 at 4:25 PM ^
I get the feeling that he'll be a first round NFL pick by the time Mattison is done with him.
August 12th, 2011 at 2:11 AM ^
And Aaron Wellman, don't underestimate his ability to NFLize players.
August 11th, 2011 at 5:18 PM ^
So much for that "taking the rest of the day off" thing Tom. Congrats.
August 11th, 2011 at 5:52 PM ^
I can see Brown as an outstanding rush DE once he gets up to maybe 250 or so. With his athleticism and height, the sky's the limit with him. And we need someone who can block kicks. Looks like we found our guy.
August 11th, 2011 at 6:29 PM ^
I agree everything you said except that he'll need to be bigger than 250. That shouldn't be a problem given his frame, but Roh was 250 last fall and needed more beef. I'd like to see Brown play at closer to 2011 Roh's size as opposed to 2010 Roh.
If he's 223 right now, he should be 235-240 by the time he gets to campus and with Roh and Beyer ahead of him he won't be relied on until 2013 at the earliest.
August 11th, 2011 at 7:48 PM ^
August 12th, 2011 at 11:34 AM ^
If that's what the coaches said, then who am I to argue with them, but if they want Roh to be 270, why wouldn't they want Brown to weigh just as much when he's an inch taller? That's my line of thinking at least.
August 12th, 2011 at 3:42 PM ^
Roh's in his 3rd year. Don't be surprised if they want Brown to be bigger by then too.
August 12th, 2011 at 4:49 PM ^
August 11th, 2011 at 6:39 PM ^
He's huge on film...
And does his team not have dark jerseys? I swear in like every other game both teams were wearing white (unless his team wears a light tan or something and the video quality doesn't pick it up).
August 11th, 2011 at 6:46 PM ^
OK I just watched the video. My take:
He's bigger and faster than almost anyone on the field. He's either unblockable or people don't try to block him (looked like some of each). I'm glad we're not recruiting him as a QB, but having played QB likely means his football IQ is higher than most DEs. I didn't see much technique, but that's OK.
Basically, he's huge and athletic. Isn't that what you want at DE? Kid could be really good.
August 11th, 2011 at 6:54 PM ^
Is what will say when they keep holding him...
August 11th, 2011 at 7:04 PM ^
August 11th, 2011 at 7:07 PM ^
Brown is my favorite commit this year. I think he has a ton of upside
August 11th, 2011 at 8:31 PM ^
Thanks Mel Kiper.
August 11th, 2011 at 11:33 PM ^
You know that this class is going to be doing some big things when they are already rallying behind each other like this and havent played a game together. I cant wait to see them at the big house!!!
August 11th, 2011 at 11:36 PM ^
I definitely had more fun watching the DE clips (someone already mentioned he might just be QB by virtue of being so big & fast) ... it looks like he covers the last 5 yards of pursuit in an instant when he goes horizontal, it's awesome.
August 12th, 2011 at 2:40 PM ^
the locker room dynamic is something often overlooked in college recruiting. It's good to know that a lot of these guys are already tight with one another. Very important intangible right there.
August 13th, 2011 at 1:57 AM ^
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