Five years ago, C.J. Brown was tearing up the turf at NexTier Stadium as a Seneca Valley Raider.  Now, he is making a national name for himself as the starting quarterback of the Maryland Terrapins.

Brown’s collegiate career has been injury-ridden up until this point, but he is having a breakout year as a redshirt senior.  The Terps are 4-0 and ranked 25 in the Associated Press’ poll for week 6, and head into their matchup against Florida State as a 16-point underdog.  They’ve overome the odds thus far this season; who’s to say they won’t do the same on Saturday?

He’s racking up some impressive statistics with 1,043 passing yards, seven touchdowns and only one interception through four games.  On top of that, he has 283 yards rushing with six touchdowns in that department.  His 176.5 passer rating ranks ninth in all of the NCAA.

Brown graduated from Seneca Valley in 2009 and left a lasting impression on the football team.  He holds several records for the Raider football program and committed to Maryland in the spring of his senior year at Seneca Valley.  He set the Maryland record for rushing yards by quarterback in one game in 2011 with 162 yards against then number eight Clemson.

In Maryland’s season opener against Florida International University, Brown threw for 281 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 105 yards and two touchdowns.  386 yards and five touchdowns, all done before he was pulled in the third quarter in the Terps 43-10 rout of FIU.

Brown followed up that performance with victories against Old Dominion, Connecticut, and a shutout of the West Virginia Mountaineers.  “We owed them,” Brown said to the Washington Times about the victory over the UConn Huskies. “That was kind of our mentality, our motivation.”

Brown has proven to be a very versatile player and has clearly given defenses fits.  The Terps’ defense has played a huge role in the team’s success, allowing more than ten points only once this year, and one can only imagine how confident that has made Brown at quarterback.

Brown has rebounded miraculously from being out all year with a torn ACL.  “Just not being able to do things for yourself,” Brown said when asked what the worst part of being injured was in an interview with the Washington Post.  He’s proven thus far this season that he is completely capable of doing things for himself.

Brown will be challenged going forward this season, going up against No. 8 Florida State and then No. 3 Clemson later in the year.  Win or lose, expect to see him rise to the occasion.