The Cardinal Countdown: 12 Days Until Kickoff

2021 Season Recap: The story on Brownlee is a bit complicated but exciting none the less. The FSU transfer was a 3/4 star prospect who chose the ‘Noles over Florida, Miami, LSU, and some other notable programs out of high school. The speedy Brownlee took a redshirt in 2019 but then jumped in and immediately made an impact for the FSU secondary, playing in eight games in the shortened 2020 season and then all 12 last year mixed in as a starter. He racked up some nice stats (2 INT, 51 tackles, 2 TFL, 3PBU, 1FF) but his aggressiveness was what had fans and coaches excited about his progression. While he had some struggles in coverage at times, I always like to look at fan reaction of a transfer and it appears overall most FSU fans were frustrated by his departure as he looked to be a piece of the secondary once again in 2022.

2022 Season Outlook: While it did not happen “officially” the timing of the portal moves almost made it appear as if FSU and Louisville came to terms and agreed upon a trade moving Greedy Vance to the ‘Noles and Brownlee to the Cards. While that obviously didn’t happen for real (or did it), I like the upside on Brownlee versus what I’d seen/read from Greedy thus far. Brownlee can make some big plays…like this one.

But he can also give up some big plays…like this one.

To his credit, Brownlee stepped in front of the media the following week and told them straight up it was on him to make the play, and he didn’t do it. He owned it, and I respect that. Brownlee can be a big time player in the secondary for the Cards, and I think if he’s not called on to be an every down corner, his stock actually rises because he knows he can go 100% every opportunity he gets. Like I said before, the upside on Brownlee is big, and with some solid coaching and the competition he has right now I think he gets better and better the next couple seasons.

Sweet Tweet:

Brownlee posed for a photo a couple years back in Cardinal Stadium with some other Miami natives (Hicks, Jones, Tutu), a cool photo but I’m sure he never envisioned he’d be on the other side of ball in a couple years. The Cards have had a little Miami pipeline for a while and kept it rolling with some new blood this year (Rance, Dee Wiggins, Derrick Edwards, Brownlee) and some guys who are scheduled to come in next year (Stanquan Clark, Rayquan Adkins). Would love to see it keep going. We’ve had some pretty good luck with the Florida boys.