BROWN? HE DELIVERS.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

CORVALLIS - Amid the anxiety surrounding Sammie Stroughter's absence and return, with the excitement of two freshmen establishing themselves, there was this forgotten aspect of the Oregon State receivers: Anthony Brown.

He seems like an afterthought in the OSU passing game, which has generally been his role. For a couple of seasons, he was a regular, but who noticed him with Mike Hass on the other side of the formation? Then last season, it was the Stroughter show, even before Brown's suspension-caused absence.

Yet, look it up. Brown now has 105 receptions in his career, putting him within reach of OSU's top 10 career list, which will come either Saturday night at Arizona State with a career-game or certainly in the weeks after that.

Not that anyone has really noticed, including Brown himself.

`I'm not really looking at statistics,' Brown said. `There's nothing (special) on that. I want to leave here a winner, whether it's catching 20 balls or catching a hundred.

`I don't worry about how many catches I had last week or how many catches I had a year ago. That's all behind me.'

He does seem serious about putting the past in its place. Take the simple fact of his last name, or names.

For his first four falls in Corvallis, he was Anthony Wheat-Brown. At his request, all official references use only Brown for his last name this season.

Why?

`People can wonder, but it's just me growing up,' Brown said.

OK ...

`Personal stuff, that I don't want to talk about,' he said when asked for a further explanation.

`It's just a process I went through,' he added for amplification.

`A lot of thinking went on and after the suspension, I wanted to come back a different person.

`This is a new me, in terms of my identity. It's me being a better person, showing a side of me that people haven't seen before, on the field and off the field.'

Brown missed the final three games of the 2006 regular season for an undisclosed violation of team rules. If not, he might already be in that top 10 list of OSU receivers.

Or he might be there with a faster start to this season. Brown had three receptions in OSU's first two games, then caught eight passes last week against Idaho State.

OSU's desire to make a statement with its passing game opened up with a 41-yard completion to Brown on the opening play, and he finished

with his most catches in a game since his freshman season.

`The week before, our timing wasn't there. Last week, we got our timing better,' Brown said.

While there has been an obvious adjustment to both starter Sean Canfield and reserve Lyle Moevao, Brown also put it on himself for not turning every pass thrown his way into yardage gained in those opening two games.

`I started off with a couple drops,' Brown said, adding that `during my career I haven't dropped that many passes. I don't really get along with drops. It bugged me a lot, so it humbled me to come out and work before practice and after practice ...

`Our motto is to catch everything. No matter where the ball is, if we put our hands on it, we want to be able to catch it. We want the quarterback to know that even if the throw isn't perfect, we're there to catch the ball. We'll go get the ball for him.'

The quarterback is certainly appreciative of that thought.

`Sammie's always really positive and so is Anthony,' Canfield said of Stroughter and Brown. `As a quarterback that's really good to have.

`There are going to be some dropped balls and some bad throws, but they come back to the huddle and say, `my bad.' That's big.'

Even bigger is when they don't need to account for incomplete passes. While much was made of Stroughter's seeming return to form with nine receptions last week, it was almost equally significant to OSU coach Mike Riley that the Beavers showed they're not a one-target passing attack.

`That was good to see. We need a balance of production in the receiving corps,' Riley said. `Anthony had a good spring and fall. It was just a matter of getting more opportunities and taking advantage of it for him. I wouldn't say I saw it coming but I'm not surprised by it.'

Because teams are going to put emphasis on slowing the explosive Stroughter, the importance of Brown increases, as not only a reliable receiver but a deep threat himself. He is averaging 19.0 yards on his 11 receptions, and only one of the other top 10 receivers in the Pac-10 is averaging more yards per catch.

Again, why not?

`Anthony runs great routes, he's a four-year starter and he knows the system inside and out,' Canfield said.

But again, Brown defers the attention from himself, as the primary alternative to Stroughter or as anything more significant.

`It's not just one choice, we have many great athletes (among receivers),' he said. `Once the ball comes, we're all making plays. They can try to double (Stroughter) and it's not just me but everybody can make plays.'

OSU AT ASU 

7 p.m. Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium. TV: None. Radio: KKNX-AM (840). More OSU football coverage at www.registerguard.com/blogs