2020 Usc Senior/Draft Eligible Player Bios Michael Brown
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
2020 USC SENIOR/DRAFT ELIGIBLE PLAYER BIOS MICHAEL BROWN JACK DRAKE BEN EASINGTON MATT FINK OLAIJAH GRIFFIN TALANOA HUFANGA SAMUEL ORAM-JONES AMON-RA ST. BROWN JAY TUFELE MARLON TUIPULOTU TYLER VAUGHNS ALIJAH VERA-TUCKER SCOTT VOIGT JACK WEBSTER (49) MICHAEL BROWN—Placekicker, 6-1, 205, Sr.*/Sr., Temecula, CA (Linfield Christian HS) CAREER: He has made 7-of-9 field goals and all 32 of his extra point kick tries in his career. He also has kicked off 29 times, with 11 touchbacks (with 2 pinning opponents within the 20), a successful onside kick and 3 unsuccessful onside kicks, and he has a a tackle and rush for minus 2 yards on a fake field goal. He has appeared in 17 games in his career. 2020: Brown did not see action as a backup placekicker and kickoff specialist as a senior in 2020. 2019: Brown served as a backup placekicker as a junior in 2019. Overall in 2019 while appearing in 6 games (BYU, Utah, Washington, Arizona State, California, Iowa), he kicked off 17 times, with 8 touchbacks and a successful onside kick (that he recovered), and he had a tackle. He had touchbacks on all 4 of his kickoffs at BYU and on 4 of his 5 kickoffs against Utah. He kicked off twice at Washington and had a tackle. He had 4 kickoffs at Arizona State and kicked off once at California. He recovered his own onside kick against Iowa. 2018: Brown, returning healthy from a 2017 knee injury, assumed the placekicking job for the last 9 games of 2018 as a sophomore. Overall in 2018, he hit 7-of-9 field goals and all 32 of his extra point kick tries, and he also had 3 unsuccessful onside kicks. He also had a run for minus 2 yards on a fake field goal. He saw his first action in a year against Washington State and hit his first career field goal (a 26-yarder) and all 4 of his PATs. He hit a 42-yard field goal and all 3 of his PATs at Arizona. He hit a 38-yard field goal and all 4 of his PATs against Colorado. He hit all 4 of his PATs but missed a field goal and had an unsuccessful onside kick at Utah. He hit all 5 of his PATs and had an unsuccessful onside kick against Arizona State. He nailed a career-long 46-yard field goal and hit all 5 of his PATs at Oregon State. He hit both of his PATs and had a run for minus 2 yards against California. He hit 2 of his 3 field goal tries (46 and 22 yards) and all 3 PATs at UCLA. He hit a 30-yard field goal and both of his PATs (and he had an unsuccessful onside kick) against Notre Dame. 2017: Brown emerged as USC’s placekicker on kickoffs as a redshirt freshman entering in 2017, but he tore ligaments in his left knee in the Stanford game and missed the rest of the season. Overall in 2017 while appearing in 2 games, he kicked off 9 times, with 3 touchbacks (and 2 pinning opponents within the 20), but he did not attempt any placement kicks. Because of the early-season injury, he was allowed to medically redshirt. 2016: Brown redshirted as a first-year freshman placekicker in 2016. He was awarded a scholarship at USC by virtue of an NCAA rule known as “blueshirting” (it allows a non-recruited student-athlete to receive athletic financial aid after beginning practice and have that student-athlete count towards the next year’s signing class if the school has reached its NCAA-maximum aid limit for the current year). HIGH SCHOOL: He was 2015 Cal-Hi Sports All-State Small Schools first team, Max Preps All-State Small Schools first team and All-CIF Northwest Division as a senior placekicker, punter and defensive back at Linfield Christian High in Temecula (Calif.). He made 9-of-13 field goals (with a long of 57 yards) and 66-of-70 PATs, had touchbacks on 62 of 68 kickoffs and averaged 41.7 yards punting (with a long of 55 yards) as a senior. As a junior in 2014, he made Max Preps All-State Division IV second team and All-CIF Northwest Division while hitting 10-of-14 field goals and 36-of-37 PATs, had touchbacks on 41 of 50 kickoffs and averaged 37.3 yards on 30 punts (with a long of 54 yards), plus he had 3 interceptions on defense. As a 2013 sophomore, he made 2-of-6 field goals (including a 53-yarder) and 30-of-32 PATs and had touchbacks on 24 of 33 kickoffs, plus he had 14 tackles on defense. As a freshman in 2012, he hit 4-of-5 field goals and 22-of-23 PATs, plus on defense he had 20 tackles, 6 deflections and 2 interceptions. He also played baseball and soccer at Linfield Christian. PERSONAL: He received his bachelor’s degree in real estate development at USC in the spring of 2020 and is working on a master’s in project management. He was married in May of 2019 and his wife’s name is Lauren. FGA FGM LG PAT ATT PAT TCB YDS AVG TD LG 2018 (So.)… 9 7 46 32 32 1 -2 -2.0 0 -2 TAC LS/YDS DFL FR 2019 (Jr.)… 1 0/0 0 0 GAME-BY-GAME WITH MICHAEL BROWN 2019 KICKOFFS WITHIN 20 (TOUCHBACKS) BYU 4 0 (4) Utah* 5 0 (4) Washington 2 0 (0) Arizona St. 4 0 (0) California 1 0 (0) Iowa (HB) 1 0 (0) 2019 (Jr.)… 17 0 (8) 2018 FG-FGA MADE MISS PAT-PAT ATT Wash. St.* 1-1 26 -- 4-4 Arizona* 1-1 42 -- 3-3 Colorado* 1-1 38 -- 4-4 Utah* 0-1 -- 39 WR 4-4 Arizona St.* 0-0 -- -- 5-5 Oregon St.* 1-1 46 -- 5-5 California* 0-0 -- -- 2-2 UCLA* 2-3 46, 22 42 WL 3-3 Notre Dame* 1-1 30 -- 2-2 2018 (So.)… 7-9 32-32 2017 KICKOFFS WITHIN 20 (TOUCHBACKS) W. Michigan* 8 1 (3) Stanford* 1 1 (0) 2017 (Fr.)… 9 2 (3) *Starter (44) JACK DRAKE—Cornerback, 5-10, 190, Jr.*/Sr., Danville, CA (De La Salle HS) 2020: Drake did not see action as a reserve cornerback as a junior walk-on in 2020. 2019: Drake did not see action as a redshirt sophomore walk-on reserve cornerback in 2019. He participated in a portion of 2019 spring practice. He did not play football at USC in 2017 or 2018. HIGH SCHOOL: He was a wide receiver at De La Salle High in Concord (Calif.), catching 10 passes for 185 yards (18.5 avg) in his career. As a junior in 2015, De La Salle won the CIF North Coast Section and California state Open Division championship. Current Trojan Grant Jones also prepped at De La Salle. PERSONAL: He is an accounting major at USC with a 3.83 GPA. (37) BEN EASINGTON—Tailback, 5-10, 215, Jr.*/Sr., Evanston, IL (Evanston HS) CAREER: He has appeared in 3 games in his career. 2020: Easington appeared in 2 games (Arizona State and Arizona) as a reserve tailback and played on special teams as a walk-on junior in 2020. He injured his foot prior to the Utah game and missed the rest of the season. 2019: Easington did not season action as a reserve tailback as a walk-on sophomore in 2019. He suffered a torn ligament in his left knee in 2019 fall camp and had surgery, sidelining him for the season. He was limited in 2019 spring drills while recuperating from a 2018 shoulder injury. 2018: Easington saw action on special teams in USC’s opener (UNLV) as a walk-on redshirt freshman in 2018, but hurt his left shoulder in that game and was sidelined the rest of the season. 2017: Easington redshirted as a reserve tailback as a walk-on first-year freshman in 2017. HIGH SCHOOL: He ran for more than 1,300 yards with 13 TDs as a 2016 senior at Evanston (Ill.) High in his first year as a running back. In one game, he rushed for 336 yards on 43 carries (second most in school history) and in another he ran for 213 yards. He started at outside linebacker as a 2015 junior. He also was a discus thrower (best of 145-8) and shot putter (best of 48-0) for Evanston’s track team. PERSONAL: He is a history major at USC. He is co-president of USC’s United Black Student-Athletes Association. (19) MATT FINK—Quarterback, 6-3, 210, Sr.*/Sr., Rancho Cucamonga, CA (Glendora HS) CAREER: He has completed 72-of-107 passes (67.3%) for 732 yards with 5 TDs and and 5 interceptions and has run for 94 yards on 26 carries (3.6 avg) with 2 TD in his career. He has appeared in 16 games in his career, with 1 start. 2020: The experienced Fink, equally effective as a passer and runner, appeared briefly in 1 game (Washington State) as a senior backup quarterback in 2020. He completed his only pass attempt for minus 5 yards against Washington State. 2019: Fink played a significant role as USC’s backup quarterback as a junior in 2019. Overall in 2019 while appearing in 8 games (Stanford, Utah, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, California, UCLA, Iowa) and starting once (Washington), he completed 58-of-88 passes (65.9%) for 648 yards with 4 TDs and 5 interceptions and he also ran for minus 12 yards on 12 carries (-1.0 avg) with 1 TD.