LAKE CITY, Fla. -- A lot of Florida State football fans had questions last week when Lake City, Fla., defensive back Shyheim Brown committed to the Seminoles.

While Brown is very well-known to high school football fans in Lake City and the surrounding areas, he wasn't yet ranked by Rivals.com and was little-known in recruiting circles.

Since that time, Brown's ranking has been bumped up to three-star status, and Warchant took a trip over to watch Brown play in person last Friday night. What we saw was a player Columbia High coach Brian Allen describes as a throwback -- to a time when Allen played linebacker for the Seminoles.

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Allen, who starred at FSU in the late 1990s and was selected in the third round of the 2001 NFL Draft, said Brown would have fit in just fine with the Seminole defenses of the Dynasty era.

"When I got there in 1996, there was a group of guys that brought the work," Allen said. "Tommy Polley, Roland Seymour, Tay Cody, myself and so many others were are all guys that had respect and discipline. But the work ethic we had -- we naturally wanted to be ready to play as a freshman.

"Shyheim has that same type of mindset. You never have to tell this kid to work. He does a lot of things on his own. Then you look at him on the field -- he plays everywhere on the field. He has that 'dog' mentality. He's a hunter, and that's the way I played when Coach [Jim] Gladden recruited me. But this kid has better measurables than me."

While Brown is being recruited as a defensive player, he hardly ever leaves the field for his high school team. On Friday night, he played just about every snap on defense, returned kicks and punts, starred on coverage units and even played wide receiver on offense.

Brown said he wouldn't want it any other way,