CORNERBACK BROWN IS ONE QUICK STUDY RAPID DEVELOPMENT HAS HELPED UCLA SECONDARY.

Byline: BRIAN DOHN Staff Writer

Theotis Brown was at a local convenience store when someone stopped him to talk about his son. The first compliment was about Trey, the son, as a person. Then came some nice words about Trey's athletic prowess.

``He said Trey had a good arm, and I thought, `OK, he's a center fielder,''' Theotis said. ``Then he said Trey hit the receivers with the passes. I was like, `What?'''

Theotis Brown starred at UCLA and played in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs and St. Louis Cardinals, so football wasn't foreign to him. He supported his son's athletic endeavors in basketball and baseball, but the two talked and decided Trey would not play football until high school.

However, Trey was in eighth grade when the conversation at the convenience store took place. Trey said he was getting ribbed by his friends, who watched him play on the sandlot and were eager for him to help the junior high school team.

``Practice started in August, and this was September,'' Theotis said with a hearty chuckle. ``I believe he forged the (permission slip).''

It was the beginning of the football career in which Trey Brown became an all-state defensive back at Blue Valley Northwest High in Overland Park, Kansas, and brought him to UCLA, where he is one of the top cornerbacks in the Pacific-10 Conference.

``He's got very good instincts, and has a real nice feel for the game,'' Bruins defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker said. ``He's improved his fundamentals. He watches tape. He studies. When you have a football

IQ, you can look at stuff and kind of figure it out.''

Brown's football IQ, which he got from watching games with his dad, is what his coaches, opposing coaches and even teammates often speak about when heaping praise on him.

But Brown said his game is more than just intelligence. He is listed at 5-foot-9 (he swears he's 5-9 1/2), 190 pounds. Although he does not have the reputation as a speedster, he was clocked at 4.46 seconds in the 40-yard dash recently.

``I don't know if they want to believe it, but you turn on the film, you definitely see me out there on the field flying around,'' Brown said. ``You don't see anybody blowing by me. All I'll say is, you turn on the film, you'll see No. 23 flying all over the place.''

Fair or not, the reputation Brown has carved at UCLA is that of a quick learner, and not just in finding a place in the family's garage to stash his pads so his dad couldn't find them way back when. Just look at his development at UCLA.

His big chance came two years ago, when the Bruins visited Arizona State in what became a colossal collapse late in the game. Brown nabbed his first career interception in the first half. Feeling good and confident, Brown, who replaced Marcus Cassel earlier in the game, was on Sun Devils receiver Derek Hagan (Palmdale High).

Brown saw Hagan run a hitch and went to jump the route, only to have Hagan sprint up field wide open. It turned into a 46-yard touchdown play with 6:36remaining, and the Bruins went on to blow an 11-point lead in the final seven minutes of a 48-42 loss. Saturday, for the first time since that loss, UCLA returns to Sun Devils Stadium.

``I remember on that one play, I took my eye off the man,'' Brown said. ``Ever since that play, it's never happened again. I was young and (Hagan) just set me up and beat me. But I remember going against him last year, and he wasn't getting any of that.''

Brown has started every game since that defeat, and his streak will reach 28 straight this weekend. During that span, Brown has six interceptions, including a team-high three this season.

``He's a very consistent performer,'' UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. ``He doesn't get beat a lot. He's really smart. He doesn't make many mistakes at all, and he's been that way since he was a freshman. He has a great football IQ. He understands the game and knows how to play it.''

Brown also understands the frustration that can go with playing the position. When he was a freshman, opposing quarterbacks often challenged him and left established cornerback Matt Clark alone.

Now, Brown is the established veteran, and opposing quarterbacks want very little to do with him.

Instead, they are picking on UCLA's left cornerback, either Rodney Van or Alterraun Verner at this juncture of the season, while Brown is forced to defend a pittance of passes each week.

``People will look at him and say he's short, not very quick, not very fast,'' Walker said. ``But it's like, damn, the guy just keeps making plays and you can't get him off the field. I would say he's steady. Smart player, a high football IQ.''

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