CHAPEL HILL – Dyami Brown has found his game again, and defenses around the ACC better beware.
North Carolina’s junior wide receiver broke out of a so-called slump two weeks ago with a big game versus NC State and then exploded this past weekend during a loss at Virginia. Big plays deep, catch-and-runs and out-fighting defensive backs for 50-50 balls have marked Brown’s turnaround, and his teammates are rather pleased to see his resurgence.
“I knew on film there was the possibility of him having some good matchups in the game and we had some of those and he made them pay for it,” UNC quarterback Sam Howell said, referring to last Saturday night at Virginia. “He’s a really good player and a great wide receiver. And if the ball is in the air, Dyami’s going to come down with it.”
All Brown did in Charlottesville was catch 11 passes for 240 yards (second most in UNC history) and three touchdowns. Coupled with his six-catch, 105-yard effort versus the Wolfpack, the junior from Charlotte is now on track to surpass last season’s outstanding numbers of 51 receptions for 1,034 yards and 12 touchdowns. Well, he’s close on the TD front.
The last two weeks: 18 pass receptions for 345 yards. That’s more than his combined output for the first four games – 17 catches for 296 yards.
Now, those weren’t bad numbers at all, but Brown aspired for more before the season started, and following his four-catch, 56-yard game in a loss at Florida State, he dug down a bit deeper to extract his former explosive self. It’s no longer former.
“I think he’s gotten his confidence back,” UNC Coach Mack Brown said. “He wasn’t pleased with his performance down at Florida State and he’s really gotten his focus back and gone back to work and just tried to be the best player he can be.”
Dyami isn’t the most talkative Tar Heel. He’s confident but doesn’t boast much. So, what was the secret to his success?
“It’s just preparation throughout the week,” he said following the Virginia game. “It’s not necessarily them, it’s just preparation throughout the week going hard just like it’s a game in practice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.”
One play from last weekend might stand out above the others. Howell praised Brown’s effort on a ball he simply out-willed the UVA defender to snare. It came at an important time with the Tar Heels making a push toward the Cavaliers.
“That was just going to make a play,” Brown said. “It was a big drive for us – I believe the defense had just gotten a turnover – So we knew we had to score. It was a 50-50 ball we needed and I just came down with the ball.”
His coach didn’t hold back when talking about Brown’s performance, saying he was a “superstar” Saturday night.
What’s interesting is that in his last two games versus the Wahoos, Brown has 17 receptions for 442 yards and six TDs. Next up for the Tar Heels is a trip to Duke on Saturday, a team Brown has snared just one pass against so far.
He started but didn’t catch a ball in last year’s meeting in Chapel Hill, and as a freshman over at Wallace Wade Stadium, Brown caught just one ball for seven yards.
So, Duke hasn’t seen Dynamic Dyami yet, but the Blue Devils are keenly aware he could be lurking and ready to explode against them, perhaps this weekend. And really, Duke coach David Cutcliffe is concerned about UNC's overall explosiveness.
"No one's kept him out of the end zone when they get their rhythm and get rolling," Cutcliffe said.
And a huge part of Carolina's explosiveness is Brown, who looks to contunues his stretch of recent performances.
