Drake London has high praise for Amon-Ra St. Brown's rookie season
By Evan Desai
Drake London feels like all USC football fans when it comes to the type of season Amon-Ra St. Brown just had in the NFL. None of us were surprised when St. Brown broke the Detroit Lions rookie record for most consecutive games in a row with 8+ catches (five games). Not one of us was surprised when he broke the Lions rookie receiving yards record either (912 yards). And neither was London:
Let's just put it this way: When DRAKE LONDON is the No. 3 receiver on the team, whoever the heck is the No. 1 must be pretty insane. Well, that was the case with the USC Trojans in 2020. London was third in the pecking order behind a couple fellow elite guys, including our No. 1 guy in St. Brown.
SEE MORE: Ranking the 15 best USC wide receivers of all-time
St. Brown put up 41 catches for 478 yards with seven touchdowns in just a shortened six-game season in 2020. And that was even with other elite college receivers like London and Tyler Vaughns taking targets away from him. Also, don't forget one of the best recruits in the 2019 class in five-star Bru McCoy was also part of the offense that year. Anyone who watched any USC games with St. Brown playing in them knew how nasty he'd be in the NFL.
Amon-Ra St. Brown was filthy with USC football long before 2020, however.
It truly is crazy, however, how former USC football receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown was still one of the top receivers in the country well before 2020. In 2019, he again played in every game, having 77 catches for 1,042 yards and six touchdowns. There was even a game where we had him be the running back rather frequently, to explain just how dynamic of a threat he was that year, and every year. He had seven carries for 60 yards and a touchdown on the ground in 2019.
In 2018, his true freshman season, he was outstanding as well. As just a true freshman, St. Brown had 60 catches for 750 yards. Keep in mind that his 2018 and 2019 numbers were gathered while competing for targets with Vaughs in those seasons as well, and even competing with Biletnikoff finalist Michael Pittman for targets.
St. Brown, like London, was dominating even when he was the No. 3 receiver on the team. We also ran an absolute joke of an offense under Tee Martin in 2018, and St. Brown still starred. It truly was no surprise that St. Brown dominated in the NFL. It was no surprise that he had 90 catches and over 90 receiving yards as a rookie. It was no surprise that he averaged 8.7 yards on the ground for 61 yards and a touchdown. It truly was no surprise, because at the end of the day, "that's the Sun God right there."