Cal Football Countdown: 34 Days, Chris Brown Spotlight

The Cal Football countdown is back to look at number 34 with 34 days to go until the season begins, and that's RB Chris Brown.

As a Recruit:

Brown was a former 3-star (5.7) RB, recruited by Beau Baldwin, and someone who committed in December of 2017. From El Camino High School in Oceanside, Brown had some injury issues that had kept him down as a senior. He also had offers from the likes of UCLA, Washington, and Utah.

At Cal in 2018:

Brown came in last summer as a true freshman, and turned some heads from the get-go. Just not from his running back play, at least not immediately. Brown shined in fall camp, 2018 with his play in special teams drills as a blocker, earning early praise from Charlie Ragle.

That praise put him in the conversation for early reps at running back, and Brown moved his way up the depth chart through the season. Patrick Laird not being at 100%, Marcel Dancy getting injured and summarily redshirted, and Derrick Clark having issues with fumbles opened up playing time for the true freshman back.

Brown rushed for his first touchdown against Oregon State, and took over the primary backup role from there. He got his most extended playing time against TCU, after Patrick Laird broke his collarbone in the first half of that contest.

Stats in 2018: 37 carries, 148 yards, 1 TD; 5 receptions for 31 yards

Expected Role for 2019:

Justin Wilcox noted Wednesday that Brown pulled away from the competition during the spring, despite tweaking his ankle during the spring game.

"Chris Brown took a leap in the spring, had a little tweak at the end but he’s fine," Wilcox said, "then behind him, you have a group with Dancy, who can give you that shiftiness, Deshawn Collins who can run, Alex Netherda will bang around and help us do something, DeCarlos Brooks was a really productive high school player, we’ll see, so it’ll be more than one. If you’re asking me, Chris came out and separated himself a little bit there in spring, then there’s that committee."

Brown, now listed at 230 lbs, showed a new gear of speed that he didn't have a year ago, notably running away from DB Cam Bynum and flashing the peace sign at him while he did.

Brown's often described as your 'traditional' downhill running back, someone who makes one cut and goes. He's not going to be the shifty guy, like Marcel Dancy, but he can make someone miss and shed a tackle or two.

"He can just go play football, bump into people, he's like a Tonka Truck," strength coach Torre Becton said, "he's like a fast Tonka Truck, bumping into people and things, knocking people over, it's fun to see, but primarily because of his approach, he comes ready to play every day, and that's cool. He is deliberate, he is intentional when it comes to practice and lifting weights and running and all those things. Not a lot of fluff with him, he doesn't spend a lot of time BSing around, he's not that guy."

There's a bigger expectation around Brown this year because of what he did in the spring. He has potential to carry the load, to the point where I put him as my top guy based on potential of anyone on the Cal roster (that story is here). But like a lot of Cal's projected offense, he's unproven.

"I expect him to go out and run hard," Wilcox said about his expectation for Brown. "We'll see. I mean, again, he played -- he did some real good things at the end of the year. I thought he had a strong spring. Potential is the word that comes to mind, and I think he's got the right mentality, he's got the physical tools, but you've got to go out and perform. So that potential can be a scary word because it means you haven't quite done it yet. But I think he's got a bright future, just time will tell."