Former Cardinal O’Hara WR Corey Brown went from free agent long shot to starting in Super Bowl 50. Photo by Al Thompson

SAN JOSE: Former Cardinal O’Hara standout receiver Corey Brown, now the starting wide receiver for the NFC Champion Carolina Panthers, wants it to be clear that the ”Philly” part of his name that is used publicly is not permanent. He is not becoming the next Chad Ochocinco.

“Nooooo, it’s just a nickname, I’m not changing my name,” Brown said with a laugh.

If you followed Brown’s career at Ohio State, you know the story.

There were two players on the roster with the name Corey Brown. Both were starters, the other Corey Brown was a defensive back.

“Both from Pennsylvania too,” Brown said during a one-on-one interview during the Panthers Wednesday media session at the team hotel, the San Jose Marriott, San Jose, CA. “He was older so he got to keep his name.”

So Philly Brown was born, mostly as a way for Big Ten, network and radio announcers to keep from confusing fans watching TV or listening.

What’s not confusing is the impact Brown has with the 17-1 Panthers this season.

On the surface Brown’s 2015 regular season 31 catches for 447 yards and four touchdowns look pedestrian. But what the second-year player does is invaluable.

Brown provides the big strike option when teams start to cheat while trying to stop the Panthers powerful rushing attack led by quarterback Cam Newton and running back Jonathan Stewart.

In the NFC title game the Arizona Cardinals were packing it in on the line of scrimmage trying to stop the rush.

Newton went to Brown early and often and he delivered with four catches for 113 yards including an 86-yard touchdown catch to help break the game open in the first quarter.

Brown said he would rather have an impact than big numbers.

“We are a team that is based around running the ball,” Brown said. “Everything in our offense is set up on running the ball. Opportunities for wideouts don’t come often. So whenever you get those opportunities, you have to make the most of it.

“As opposed being in an offense like Pittsburgh where they throw the ball 50-55 times a game,” Brown continued. “We don’t get numbers like those guys do. You really have to be selfless to be on this team. You got to leave your ego go. It’s not all about the stats if you win. I mean, we’re in the Super Bowl. I’d rather have what I have stat-wise and be here today than have 115 catches.”

Brown admits Newton, at 6-foot-5, 245 pounds, has broken the mold for what people have seen for decades at the quarterback position.

“Tremendously,” Brown laughed, “There’s not many quarterbacks walking around the size of a D-End, throwing with the best of them and who also can run with the best of them. I know it’s nightmares for people to game plan against him.”

Brown came out of Ohio State with similar unflattering numbers. From 2010-13 Brown started 35 of 48 games in his career, recording 145 receptions for 1,750 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Brown still received attention from NFL scouts and was invited into the pre-draft system.

“I started training for the draft for however long that is depending on when your season is over with,” Brown said. “You go to the combines and workout for all the scouts, then comes draft day…the entire draft went by and I didn’t (get picked). I was projected to be a third-round guy. After the draft you get a bunch of phone calls from a bunch of teams basically asking you to sign with them. It becomes your choice at that point.”

When then Panthers called, Brown said it was an easy decision.

“At that time Carolina had just released three or four receivers, their top receivers, so it was a no-brainer for me, as far as being the best situation for me to go and make a team,” Brown said. “They were obviously a team that needed receivers.”

Brown said when it got to the fourth round and had no takers, he said he wanted to go the free agent route. He didn’t want to be a team’s training camp fodder.

“That’s what I was thinking, that’s what I wanted,” Brown said. “Once it got to the later rounds I was hoping at that point no one would pick me up.”

Brown credited the late Danny Algeo for opening the door to big time college football. Algeo was the successful the long-time head coach of the Lions until he passed away July 2014 at the age of 49.

Brown said Algeo saw him play in a youth league in the Germantown section of Philadelphia and wanted him to come to O’Hara.

Brown said Algeo was so convincing to his mother and the rest of the family, they moved to Delaware County so Brown could play in the Catholic League for the Lions and get scouted.

“I didn’t know where O’Hara was,” Brown recalled. “So we visited, it took like 30 minutes to get there. So my mom decided we needed to move out there. So my whole family moved out there so I could go to high school there.”

Brown said he looked back at losing his high school coach and came to realize what influence Algeo had not only on him but his whole family.

“He had a lot of faith in me as a freshman, obviously because he was playing me a lot” said Brown, whose younger brother Justin is a sophomore at O’Hara. “When recruiters came out to see (quarterback) Tom Savage, Algeo would always introduce me to coaches. He was a big part of my success.”

Brown lost his grandmother on the day before the NFC title game. At first his mother Darlene didn’t want to tell him until after the game but decided to give him the news. Brown said he is glad she did.

His family is making the trip to San Francisco to see Corey play. They decided to use the Super Bowl experience as a way to celebrate his grandmother’s life.

“It wasn’t good that it happened, but it couldn’t have happened at a better time,” Brown said. “We just needed to get out of Philadelphia, come to the opposite side of the country. And enjoy the biggest game of the year.”

On this weekend, the Browns don’t need any nicknames.