Mississippi State's Brown becomes strong 3rd option for Prescott

With all the talk surrounding Fred Ross and De'Runnya Wilson, it's often ignored how deep the Mississippi State receiving corps actually is.

Wilson and Ross deservedly get the credit for pulling in a total of 73 catches, 957 yards and seven touchdowns, but junior Fred Brown is a talented target in his own right.

The 6-1, 196-pound pass catcher from Jackson is ultra-talented on the outside and can stretch the field on a long pass play or turn a short catch into a big gain. This season he's caught 18 passes for 285 yards and a score, ranking third on the team behind Ross and Wilson.

He likes where his productivity is at this stage in the season.

"I think I've been playing pretty good," Brown said. "We've got four more games so I've been trying to get better each and every day and catch all my balls and make big plays."

Between Wilson, Brown, senior Joe Morrow and sophomore Donald Gray, it's been a big year for outside receivers. Quarterback Dak Prescott has had more targets than ever before and that's not even including a deep slot position.

"All four of us are playing great ball," Brown said. "We're getting open, running great routes and catching the ball, making big plays down field. We want to keep that fast tempo going, making big plays so the run game will come. Dak is going to do what he has to do so we want to keep everything going."

Prescott's communication and camaraderie with the group is as good as it has ever been.

During the Kentucky ball game, Prescott threw into double coverage on a deep ball to Brown for his first interception in 288 passes, but the two shrugged it off and Prescott had a career game.

"We worked all offseason this summer working on deep passes and long throws just to get the timing down," Brown said. "The trust factor is there. He trusts me on the deep ball and when he tells me to go get it I'm going to get it for him."

That trust is going to have to be big for MSU down the stretch starting starting with Thursday's game at Missouri. MSU will face a tough defense that won't let anything come easy for Brown and his unit.

"They've got a good defensive line and one of the best defenses in the SEC," Brown said. "They play a lot of two-high so it's a challenge on the outside this week. Most of their defensive backs are kind of like safeties. We've got to play physical."

Luckily for Brown and his teammates, most of the team is healing up and getting closer to 100 percent. Slot receiver Gabe Myles is expected back this week after missing three games with an ankle injury and Brown expects a big day for the pass catchers.

"We get Gabe back this week and it will give us more options with the sweeps and the jets getting him in the open field to do what he does best," Brown said. "Everybody is coming back so look for everyone to come out, make plays and be explosive."

With the running game struggling this season, pass catching has to be a staple in the final four games of the season. After starting 1-2 in league play and being left out of many conversations, the Bulldogs can still creep back in with a big finish.

"Everything is still ahead of us. We can still get to the SEC Championship if we win out," Brown said. "We know that it's a great challenge we just have to take care of business every week. We have to take care of Missouri this week and then we can try and take care of it against Bama. You have to get better."

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 6:30 PM with the headline "Mississippi State's Brown becomes strong 3rd option for Prescott ."