Vernell Brown III flashes a message to the crowd after his second punt return for a touchdown on Saturday. (Photo: Ethan Caruso/UAA Communications)
Same Game, New History For Florida's VB3
Saturday, September 12, 2026 | Football
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By: Ryan Roddy, FloridaGators.com Student Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — It is the same game he has played since he was a little kid.
"I've been playing the game since I was 5," Vernell Brown III said. "The game doesn't change. The levels change. The person across from you may change. I mean, I think my approach is so inward-focused that it doesn't matter who's in front of me, who I'm playing."
So when you put the ball in his hands, he's been there before and done that before.
But maybe there's a feat even he hasn't accomplished.
In Florida's 52-3 win over Campbell, Brown returned two punts for touchdowns and added another on an end-around shovel pass from quarterback Aaron Philo.
The first came early in the second quarter.
Brown caught the ball by the left sideline, made a couple of defenders miss and cut across the field, following a convoy of blockers and a rising roar from the crowd. Before his cleats hit the orange paint of the end zone, he high-fived Bailey Stockton, who had helped him spring down the sideline.
Sixty-four yards to the house.
"It's more reactive than anything," Brown said. "I mean, obviously I scored the touchdown, but just credit to my blockers, man. That was amazing. Especially Bailey Stockton at the end holding up the punter. Getting a two-for-one. That's amazing. I'm grateful for those guys and appreciate them blocking for me."
Vernell Brown III exited the field on Saturday night to plenty of applause. (Photo: Audrey Djuricich/UAA Communications)
Just over three minutes later, Brown was back deep.
Teammates, including fellow receiver Dallas Wilson, told him to go for another one.
So he did.
Fielding the punt at the left hash at the 30-yard line, Brown started toward the middle of the field before cutting right to avoid a tackler and racing toward the sideline. With each cut and each step, the cheers grew louder.
Oohs and aahs filled The Swamp.
Brown crossed the goal line again, this time after a 70-yard return, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
"Those were both big-time plays," Gators head coach Jon Sumrall said. "I think those type of plays, too, gets the crowd involved in the game. That was fun to see VB make those plays and create that momentum for us."
Brown wasn't finished.
He added two more long returns, covering 48 and 37 yards. The 48-yarder was negated by a penalty, officially making it a 2-yard return, but the crowd reaction told the story.
"Electric," defensive lineman LJ McCray said. "I mean, he's an electric player. You heard it in The Swamp. Got pretty loud. The team feeds off of that. It's important."
Brown's final line in the return game: four returns for 173 yards, a new program record, besting Brandon James' mark of 155 yards set in 2007.
And he did it all in the second quarter.
In the second half, freshman Justin Williams and Stockton took over the return duties for the Gators.
The last time a Gator returned a punt for a touchdown was in 2020, when Kadarius Toney did it against Kentucky with less than a minute to go until halftime.
Nearly six years later, Brown reset the clock — this time in front of an announced crowd of 88,863.
For Brown, following Toney carried extra significance.
"He was my favorite player when he was here," Brown said. "He was here around the time when my dad was working here. I got a pretty great look at him. He's one of the players whose highlights I still watch to this day. Great player, great company to be in."
Brown wasn't finished rewriting the record book.
The last time a Gator returned two punts for touchdowns in the same game, you have to go back nearly 30 years.
Before Danny Wuerffel won the Heisman Trophy, before Florida won its first national championship and fifth SEC Championship, Jacquez Green – then a sophomore receiver – returned two punts for touchdowns against Kentucky in Week 4 of the 1996 season.
Like Brown, Green did it on consecutive attempts. His returns covered 66 and 79 yards and came roughly three minutes apart.
Three decades later, Brown matched the feat.
In a 49-point victory against an FCS opponent, his performance may not have changed the outcome.
But it changed the record book.
And for Gators fans, it provided a first-hand glimpse of what Brown can do with the ball in his hands. For college football fans who weren't familiar with VB3 before Saturday, consider the introduction made.
The levels have changed. The stakes have changed.
But for Brown, the expectation – and the honor – remain the same.
"Have your name cemented in the record books, amazing in the legacy to have my father, grandfather, other family members come before me and obviously do their job," he said. "[For] me to continue the legacy while setting a new standard, hopefully for the ones that come behind me, it's a blessing."
