Certainly possible Brown is on that timeline but the circumstances read very differently. Brown is way older (obscenely old for a second year player for those who don’t know), has already had chances he didn’t capitalize on (playing horrifically last year in his only FBS opportunities after perhaps being forced into action too quickly post injury), and has lost out on QB competitions now under two different head coaches. Hogan seemed to be an afterthought we stumbled on when first Nottingham (the presumptive heir apparent) and then Nunes (a winning but frustrating QB in that context we rightly realized we could upgrade) didn’t play as we hoped. Brown was the heir apparent and ended up seeing first transfers come in to compete with him and then a loss in that QB competition. In this historical analogy Brown is Nottingham. Rizk is perhaps the closer comparison to Hogan, though we shouldn’t take comparisons too far.
Any of these three could start games this year IMHO but a betting man would go with Gulbranson. Brown has had every benefit of the doubt - four years of preparation at the best high school program in America, tutelage under distinguished QB whisperers, historic/norm-breaking NIL compensation blowing past his teammates, leg up in an open QB competition with a head start on the transfers to boot. With all of that our coaches don’t appear to think him vs. Gulbranson is a real debate.
Any of these three could start games this year IMHO but a betting man would go with Gulbranson. Brown has had every benefit of the doubt - four years of preparation at the best high school program in America, tutelage under distinguished QB whisperers, historic/norm-breaking NIL compensation blowing past his teammates, leg up in an open QB competition with a head start on the transfers to boot. With all of that our coaches don’t appear to think him vs. Gulbranson is a real debate.