There's a receiver on the Wake Forest football team intent on fulfilling a prophecy.
His name is Devon Brown, but you can call him Y'lou.
Everyone else does.
"Actually it came from an uncle before I was born," Brown said of his nickname, pronounced Y-loo. "He said that when I grew up I'd be different and I'd need a different name.
"That just happened to be the name that he came up with."
Just how different Brown turns out to be could have a great deal to do with how well the Deacons move the football this season. He's certainly trying to be different from last season, when a back injury limited his production to just 10 catches for 134 yards. And he's also trying to be different from any slotback and kick returner that has come before him in the Wake Forest program.
He has the quickness and speed and he has the moves. He also has a newfound determination not seen last fall in his redshirt freshman season.
Though saddled by a strained calf muscle this preseason, Brown has showed up to play day after day.
"He's matured a lot," Coach Jim Grobe said. "He's had a bad calf and I think in the past there's a good chance he would have missed some practices. And he's been really coming out here and even though at times he hasn't been at full speed, he's been fighting through that.
"That's a sign of not only personal maturity but a commitment to your football team that you're going to be there. So that's been fun."
Brown has flashed great potential throughout preseason, though as Grobe is fond of saying, the definition of potential is a promise yet to be fulfilled. With the graduation of Demir Boldin, who led the ACC last season with 81 catches, Brown has been running first-team since last spring,
He should be a different player than Boldin, who for all his accomplishments as a receiver averaged only 3.2 yards on rushing attempts. Grobe would like to use Brown, as well as backup Chris Givens, a redshirt freshman, as he used Kenneth Moore in 2006 and 2007.
Moore caught 98 passes as a senior, and averaged 7.2 yards on 44 carries.
"Kenny was our best tailback and our best slotback," Grobe said. "I think we've got a couple of guys now who can do those kinds of things, but how much we start out with, I don't know.
"But I think as the year goes on, the more we can get the ball in those guys' hands, the better off we'll be, whether it's throwing it to them or handing it to them."
Such versatility could make Brown one of Wake Forest's most valuable offensive players this season, but only if he can remain healthy and available. He's not big, at 5-9, 185 pounds, and he took a pounding last season on kickoff returns.
He led the Deacons with 16 returns for 350 yards, for an average of 21.9 yards per return.
Grobe said that Brown will also return punts this season.
"I think one thing that tells you how valuable Devon Brown can be is he's a guy who can return all our punts and return kickoffs for us," Grobe said. "We'll ask him to do a lot of things, and when you ask a guy to return punts you need a durable guy.
"If that guy is only a half-year player -- if he's playing six and missing six -- as a punt returner then you've got some problems. We've put some confidence in him that he'll be there and that's why we're working him so much as a punt returner."
Brown said he's willing to do whatever it takes for the Deacons to win the ACC championship and return to the Orange Bowl for the second time in four years. And along the way, he wouldn't mind making a name for himself, which shouldn't be that hard for a guy called Y'lou.
"Every opportunity I get I'm going to go out there and do everything I can," Brown said. "Hopefully people will know me more by the end of this season."
■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement