Vernell Brown III Earns SEC Co-Special Teams Player of the Week

Florida Gators wide receiver Vernell Brown III received honors for his performance in a 52-3 win against the Campbell Fighting Camels on Saturday.

Brown was named SEC Co-Special Teams Player of the Week after putting up two punt-return touchdowns and one receiving touchdown against Campbell.

Brown’s first punt-return touchdown came around the start of the second quarter. He blew past a block set by Bailey Stockton for a 64-yard touchdown. This was Florida’s first punt-return touchdown since Kadarius Toney did it against Kentucky in 2020.

Toney was also the last Florida player to be named Special Teams Player of the Week after his performance against the Kentucky Wildcats in 2020.

“He was my favorite player when he was here,” Brown said of Toney. “He was here around the time when my dad was working here. […] He’s one of the players whose highlights I still watch to this day. Great player, great company to be in.”

Three minutes after his first punt-return touchdown, Brown would score a 70-yard punt-return touchdown as The Swamp erupted in disbelief. Brown became the first Gator since Jacquez Green in 1996 to score two consecutive punt-return touchdowns in the same game.

Brown said he was grateful for his performance after the game.

“It’s just a blessing to take advantage of these opportunities,” Brown said. “Obviously, I hadn’t scored in a year.”

Brown had a simple mindset while scoring the second punt-return touchdown.

“Just reading the blocks, seeing the field, trusting my guys,” Brown said. “I knew where the wall was going to be at.”

The sophomore receiver posted a historic 173 return yards against the Fighting Camels, shattering the previous record held by Brandon James, who posted 155 against Western Carolina back in 2007. Brown III also put up another 43 receiving yards and a touchdown to cap off a record-breaking performance.

This impressive performance goes beyond the Florida record book. Brown would be second in return yards in a single game, just 73 yards shy of tying Dustin Harris’s 246 return yards in a game against South Carolina State back in 2012.

“To be able to be in the record book and have something to look back on, hopefully one of the many things to look back on and say, ‘Yeah, I did that,'” Brown said.

Category: Gator Sports, Gators Football