Name: Amon-Ra St. Brown

School: USC

Class: Jr

Position: Wide Receiver

Height: 6-1                         

Weight: 195

STATS:

General Info:

The the USC stand-out’s name may sound familiar to Packer fans, and with good reason: Amon-Ra is the brother of current Packers receiver Equanimeous and their brother Osiris also plays college football as a wide receiver at Stanford.

The three were raised by 2-time Mr. Universe John Brown in the self-styled “House of 4.0 Thugs” and John had them power lifting as young as eight. Amon-Ra attended Servite High School in Anaheim (California) as a freshman before transferring in-state to the powerhouse Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, where he would link up with quarterback JT Daniels. St. Brown and Daniels had an intangible connection and in his senior year, St. Brown caught 72 passes for 1,320 yards and 20 touchdowns. He was subsequently voted a first-team All American and was instrumental as the team went 15-0 and were declared the Prep National Champions for 2017.

The 5-star recruit was rated the number-one high-school player out of California and the 11^th best recruit nationally for 2018, as well as the 211^th best recruit all-time by 247Sports.com. He received scholarship offers from 25 colleges including Alabama, Georgia, Auburn, Michigan & Ohio State, before trimming this to three and deciding to stay in-state, picking USC over Stanford and Notre Dame.

St. Brown made an instant impact as a freshman becoming the fourth USC true freshman to lead the team in receptions for a season and no Trojan has ever had more catches in a freshman debut than St. Brown achieved against UNLV. His 9 catches for 167 yards against Texas was the most receiving yards in a game by a true freshman since Marqise Lee’s 224 yards against UCLA in 2011.

St. Brown had another outstanding season as a sophomore receiver and punt returner in 2019. He made 12 starts and had 77 receptions for 1,042 yards and 6 touchdowns, plus 7 carries for 60 yards and 1 touchdown. He also returned 12 punts returns 5.5 yards per return. His 77 receptions for the season place him 12^th on USC’s all-time season receptions list. At Arizona State, he had 8 catches for 173 yards, including a 95-yard touchdown reception thrown by Kedon Slovis. St. Brown had 4 100-yard receiving games in 2019 and received an All-Pac-12 honorable mention and won USC’s Trojan Way Leadership Award. St. Brown underwent sports hernia surgery at the end of the 2019 season.

The 2020 Pac-12 Season was majorly affected by COVID-19 however Amon-Ra opted to play in USC’s 6 games and led the Pac-12 in receptions (41) and touchdowns (7). He continued to demonstrate an outstanding connection with his quarterback Kedon Slovis and had four touchdowns in the first quarter in a 38-13 win against Washington State. He also broke UCLA hearts in the crosstown rivalry snagging an 8-yard Slovis pass in the endzone with 16 seconds remaining to secure a 43-38 USC victory.

Positional Skills

Strengths:

Amon-Ra has all the tools to contribute significantly from the slot. He is outstanding between the numbers but also has demonstrated excellent route-running on fade, corner and out-routes. He has shown ability to make big plays in the short, intermediate and deep passing-game - he was USC’s go-to receiver in big moments because he has very good hands.

St. Brown makes (almost) everything look easy, he is extremely fluid and can quickly break in and out of his routes and off the line of scrimmage. He has good technique at release, using his hips and feet to create separation off of the line – he can make defenders bite and often gets wide-open catches by doing this. He has very high football IQ and seemingly has a level of understanding which already makes him appear technically and fundamentally accomplished; he will break-off or modify his routes when necessary.

What really stands out on film though is St. Brown’s physicality and competitive toughness: he is very strong and very physical. He has exceptional ability in contested catch situations after splitting the cornerback and the safety, often taking a hit (or two) to make the catch. He is only listed as 6-1, 195lbs but his father’s weight-training routine has clearly paid dividends because he plays significantly bigger and rougher than this. This also has benefits for him as a lead blocker and when blocking to set up receiver screens.

Weaknesses:

At the risk of entering draft-crush territory there’s not an awful lot of weaknesses about St. Brown that he doesn’t account for with other areas of his game.

Speed is the main area of concern. He has been timed at mid-4.5s and low-4.6s for the 40-yard dash, which is not exactly elite. He tends to make up for this with shiftiness and physicality, but this could be a concern at the pro level where defensive backs and safeties are often faster than that.

Beyond this you have to search pretty hard to find further weaknesses. Occasionally he will look up-field before securing the catch and sometimes his stance at the line will give information about his route. The latter of these two could be something pro defenders will study and capitalize on, but both are extremely coachable in an athlete this gifted. Another area that may need coaching work is his route tree and this is simply because the USC offense does not run a particularly diverse tree, therefore he was limited. He has demonstrated the athleticism necessary to develop this area of his game.

Fit with the Packers

General consensus is that Amon-Ra St. Brown’s best fit is to play from the slot, with a team who already has a stand-out number one receiver. He has already been successful in a system which regularly runs screens and utilizes the Mesh concept like Coach LaFleur’s offense does. LaFleur likes his schemes to offer multiple plays out of formation and St. Brown has many attributes which would be effective in such a scheme. The Mesh concept will allow him to operate underneath in shorter and intermediate routes using his quick release and intelligence to free himself up against either man or zone coverage. He has consistently shown he has the ability to gain yards after the catch using his shiftiness and physicality, whilst also maintaining the big-play threat to run past a defender and catch a deep pass.

While nobody knows what the impact of the salary cap on the Packers roster will be, the prospect of Adams, MVS, Lazard & Amon-Ra St. Brown offers an extremely scheme-friendly, diverse and explosive set of options for Matt LaFleur. St. Brown has also shown the level of flexibility the Green Bay offense demands of its players; he has lined up at running back, is a solid blocker and has run jet-sweeps from the backfield.

While Packer fans may not be too excited by another extravagantly named Brown brother, the family have undoubtedly saved the best until last. Amon-Ra provides first-round pedigree at a third-round price - it’s entirely possible he is still on the board when the Packers arrive at pick 92. With the Packers already meeting cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. (who is a projected first round pick) and the defense having a new coordinator and needing multiple pieces, it’s entirely plausible the Packers wait until later in the draft to address the receiver position (again). In a stacked class at the position, Amon-Ra St. Brown is not getting the attention he deserves and has the ideal attributes to be a major asset in Green Bay.