Brown was part of the 1983 Miami Hurricanes football team that upset the University of Nebraska in the 1984 Orange Bowl to earn Miami's first National Championship. The following year, Brown was named as a consensus first-team All-American and was the first WR in UM history to amass over 1,000 yards receiving, with 220 of those yards (on 10 catches) coming in the famous "Hail Flutie" shootout with Boston College. Brown would leave Miami setting school career records for receptions, receiving yards and receiving TDs.
Professional career[]
In the 1985 NFL Draft, Brown was the 2nd receiver taken (after Al Toon) and the 13th pick overall by the Cincinnati Bengals, three picks ahead of Jerry Rice. In 1985 he won the NFL Rookie of the Year Award, recording 53 catches for 942 yards and 8 touchdowns.
In 1988, Brown caught 53 passes for 1,273 yards and 9 touchdowns, leading the high-powered Bengals offense in yards, and leading to the 1988 AFC Championship and an appearance in Super Bowl XXIII. The season earned Brown his only trip to the Pro Bowl. His 1,273 receiving yards was a franchise record, and his 24 yards per catch average is an NFL single-season record that still stands for receivers with 50+ receptions.[1]
Brown's team record for receiving yards was later surpassed by Chad Johnson's 1,355 yards in 2003, but it took Johnson 37 more receptions than Brown (90) to reach this mark. Brown also set a franchise record for most receiving yards in a single game (216) in the 1988 season, which stood until surpassed by Johnson's 260 receiving yards in a game during the 2006 season.
Brown's final NFL season was in 1991. He finished his 7-year NFL career with 363 catches (7th in Bengals history) for 6,134 yards (5th) and 41 touchdowns (4th), along with 164 rushing yards.[2]
