Duke football's wide receiver repertoire just got a lot deeper

Duke offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer has shown his commitment to the air-raid type of scheme he brought to Durham when he took the job last winter, as he never has any hesitation to let quarterback Maalik Murphy take shots downfield and move the offense quickly. With this system, the wide receiver core is the prime mover of the offense, and Duke has now added a third threat.

The senior duo of Jordan Moore and Eli Pancol were Duke's main targets through the first two games of the season with the two combining for about 55% of the team's catches through the team's first two matchups. But, this Saturday against UConn, we saw a third receiver join the party and make this Bue Devil receiving core that much deeper.

Freshman Que'Sean Brown combined for two catches for one yard through the first two contests of Duke's season, and really no other receiver garnered much attention outside of Moore and Pancol. This past Saturday, though, Brown brought his name to the public and proved he can be a legit part of the Blue Devil passing game for the rest of the season.

Brown led the team with a staggering eleven catches for 87 yards and a touchdown against UConn. It came totally out of nowhere, but it makes sense why a third receiver is getting into the mix.

Moore and Pancol as a tandem draw so much attention from the defense because of their abilities to make contested catches and free themselves in the open field. They're two guys that are really hard to gameplan against and none of Duke's opponents have been able to limit either until Saturday.

Now, take the phrasing "shut down" with a grain of salt. Moore and Pancol still had five catches for 73 yards and 4 catches for 61 yards respectively, and they both scored touchdowns, but the two weren't nearly as dominant as they were through the first two games of the season.

And when the two best receivers are such a priority for the defense to stop, Brewer needs to be able to rely on the next man up to take that target share and contribute, and that's exactly what happened. The freshman Brown stepped up to the challenge after not being heavily involved through Duke's first two matchups and delivered a phenomenal outing.

Brown touched on the work he's put in at his postgame press conference.

"I put a tremendous amount of work in. Going into practice every day with the next man up mindset, working hard behind the older guys, learning from them every day. They teach you something new every day; coming from Jordan Moore and Eli [Pancol] with a lot of experience, it's a lot to learn and they teach us that every day in practice."

The speedy vertical threat that Brown is is just one more talented star to add to Brewer's system and gives Duke that extra push to compete against some of the top squads in the ACC.