Troy notebook: Levi Brown plays through back pain

TROY — If there’s something more impressive than the fact Troy quarterback Levi Brown threw for a school-record 477 yards in Saturday’s win over Florida Atlantic, it’s the fact he did it with a badly bruised lower back.

Brown, a senior who has already broken the Troy single-season record with 3,575 pass yards, took a shot to the lower back two weeks ago at Arkansas.

“Last Monday and Tuesday, I couldn’t run or even touch it, it hurt so bad,” Brown said. “It was bruised pretty bad and swollen and had fluid built up.

“The pain has gone down to where it doesn’t hurt to touch it, but the swelling has gone up.”

At that point, Brown pointed to a big knot on his lower back, one that was feared to be a fracture, but x-rays came back clean. He took a pain shot before the game and trainers taped up the knot, and Brown didn’t get hit in the back against the Owls.

“It’s a hematoma, a big bruise,” Brown said. “Basically, it’s a big pocket of blood and other fluids.”

Brown needs 425 yards to become the first player in Sun Belt history to pass for 4,000 yards. He has thrown for more than 400 yards three times this season.

Woods envious of Brown: Linebacker Bear Woods won his first Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week award this week. Brown, who took home offensive honors, has won five.

Woods has to battle other all-conference type players such as Brandon Lang, Boris Lee and Cameron Sheffield for stats, but waved the white flag in this race.

“It’s hard to compete with the Boris Lees and Brandon Langs and everybody, all those ball-hungry defensive guys out there,” Woods said. “Which is great, but it’s a little hard for me because Levi has the ball in his hands on every play.”

Gill bounces back: Wideout TeBiarus Gill bounced back from a rough performance against Arkansas (a fumble, interception off his chest, dropped touchdown pass) with a strong performance against FAU. He caught five passes for 72 yards and a score, though he did lose a fumble after the game had been decided.

“I practiced real hard this whole week,” Gill said. “It turns out in the game, it showed, besides the fumble.”

Gill also caught the pass that gave Brown a school record.

“He told me about it (after it happened),” Gill said. “He said I’m lucky I didn’t drop this one. We were just joking around.”

Florida DB commits: Troy picked up its 11th verbal commitment of the 2010 class when Crestview, Fla., athlete Chris Pickett committed while making an unofficial visit to Troy’s game against FAU.

Pickett confirmed his commitment late Monday night and said he chose Troy because it was close to home and because of his relationship with defensive coordinator Jeremy Rowell.

Pickett, who is 6-foot and 185 pounds, will likely start his career at cornerback for the Trojans.