Stadford Brownis the kind of quarterback who plays his best when the pressure mounts. But it’s been nearly two years since the Dunbar High graduate played in the Washington area. When he lines up under center in a packed Bulldog Stadium on Saturday with plenty of friends and family on hand, it’s going to be tough to contain himself.
“I know they’ve read about me in the papers from down here. I’ve told them about it, but it’s time to actually see it in person,” said Brown, who will make his fifth start of the season for North Carolina Central against Bowie State in the third annual Prince George’s Classic. “I can’t put my guard down and put on a bad show.”
All Brown has done this season is earn rave reviews. The redshirt freshman is the hottest player in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, throwing for a league-leading 857 yards (214.3 per game) and seven touchdowns for the undefeated defending CIAA champions.
The precision passer has been named CIAA rookie of the week three times in four weeks, yet wasn’t supposed to be the starting quarterback entering the season. Adrian Warren led North Carolina Central to the CIAA title and a 10-2 record last year, including two wins over Bowie State, and was set for his fourth season at quarterback for the Eagles before quitting the team during the first week of August.
“I was actually kind of shocked. I didn’t expect him to not come back,” said Brown. “I thought it was going to be more of a battle. When he said that he wasn’t going to return, he gave the job away, basically.”
Three weeks later, Warren changed his mind and returned to the team, but by then it was too late.
“Stadford keeps getting better and better every week,” Eagles coach Rod Broadway told the [Durham] Herald-Sun after Brown completed 12 of 19 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-16 win over Lenoir-Rhyne.
Brown’s success completed a journey back to the football field that was supposed to have had a stop on the West Coast — Brown originally signed with Oregon State but eligibility problems would’ve meant a year at junior college and a brand new recruiting process. Instead, he spent last year on the sidelines.
Dunbar coach Craig Jefferies is one person who’s proud of how far his former quarterback has come and is looking forward to seeing his progress firsthand against the Bulldogs.
“I knew he could do these things because to me he’s a big fish in a little pond right now. I really believe he could be a Pac-10 quarterback,” said Jefferies. “Not to take anything from the CIAA, but they’re lucky to have a guy like him, and it happened to be a good fit for him because socially, and just the maturity level that he had, they helped him grow up a lot.”
North Carolina Central (4-0) at Bowie State (2-2)
» Where: Bulldog Stadium
» When: Saturday, 2 p.m.
» Did you know? A capacity crowd of 8,300 is expected for the third annual Prince George’s Classic, a rematch of last year’s CIAA championship in which North Carolina Central erased a 17-0 deficit to defeat Bowie State, 26-23. The Bulldogs will be without senior quarterback Lamar Manigo (injured shoulder) and junior running back Isaac Redman (academically ineligible).
