DURHAM – You knew Que’Sean Brown’s name because of one gaffe in Duke’s first two games more than you knew it because he made plays.

That sure wasn’t the case in the Blue Devils’ third game.

Brown caught what wound up being the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s 26-21 win over Connecticut. On third-and-9, Maalik Murphy dialed up the 5-8, 165-pounder for a back-shoulder throw, which he caught for a 20-yard score.

It was the capper on a breakout performance for the redshirt freshman who was Sean Brown on last year’s roster.

Brown had one catch in each of Duke’s first two games, totaling 1 yard. His catch against Elon went backward 3 yards, and there was a 4-yard catch against Northwestern. It was at Northwestern where he muffed a punt, allowing the Wildcats their only touchdown in regulation.

So, an 11-catch, 87-yard performance against UConn jumps off the page as Brown’s moment of arrival with Duke.

In reality, it’s something that came to fruition for a fall camp revelation.

“If you ask anybody on our roster, they would tell you they saw that all August,” coach Manny Diaz said after Saturday night’s game. “He just started making play after play as he got comfortable in the offense.

“I think even the kids on defense, if you ask them, they feel like he was one of the hardest guys to cover on our team in August.”

As evidenced Saturday night and by Brown’s status as Duke’s punt returner, covering him is only half the battle.

The Winston-Salem native’s combination of speed, elusiveness and quickness make him tough to tackle in the open field. Hence, his role in Duke’s offense will often be to get the ball at or behind the line of scrimmage and create explosive plays with yards after the catch — per Pro Football Focus, he had 74 yards after the catch against UConn.

“I always grew up with my dad saying, ‘Every time you get the ball you should want to score a touchdown,’” Brown said on Saturday night. “With that mindset, I’m not going to let this first guy tackle me, maybe the other guys can try, but I just always have that mindset every time that I get the ball that I’m trying to score a touchdown.”

With that mindset and mentality, Duke wanted to get the ball into his hands more in the first two games.

It just all came together this past weekend — with some more of that likely on the way.

“We had some things for him in the Northwestern game, it just didn’t present itself,” offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer said on Monday. “When he had his opportunity to show out this game, he obviously did.”

Diaz mentioned Monday that Brown’s snap count (42) was higher because Sahmir Hagans “got dinged up a bit.” Hagans, the fourth-year receiver, only played 24 snaps and had a 4-yard catch.