EFL Countdown | #44 Jevani Brown

With fewer midweek games in store, Playmaker's putting the pedal to the metal with its countdown of the 'Top 72' footballers across the EFL this season - and next up is a creative talent who's enjoyed a fantastic campaign in the South West.

Before we introduce the player in question, we'd like to quickly point out that 'Playmaker's 72' is not necessarily aimed at ID'ing the best footballers across the EFL - instead, it focuses on those who have enjoyed the best campaigns across the Championship, League One and League Two so far in 2021/22.

Here's our Number 45... Exeter City magician Jevani Brown.

Jevani Brown started his career at MK Dons and joined Peterborough United at a young age. However, despite Brown being promoted to Posh's first team squad in 2013/14, an off-field incident saw the Jamaica Under-17 player leave London Road and drift into non-league football without making a senior EFL appearance.

A prolific stint at St Neots in 2016/17 perked the interest of fourth tier Cambridge United, however, and Brown has since established himself as one of the top creative talents in League Two. 

Although Brown has shown regular flashes of his ability during subsequent spells at Colchester United and Forest Green (on loan from The U's), it has arguably taken until this season  - with Exeter City - for the 27-year-old to really piece his game together. 

The Jamaican forward has become an integral part of Matt Taylor's attack and formed a lethal partnership with fellow frontmen Matt Jay and Sam Nombe (prior to injury).

With seven goals and 11 assists in League Two this season, Brown is the Grecians' most productive player - and, in fact, only five players have been involved in more L2 goals than him this term: Dominic Telford (24G, 2A), Matty Stevens (23G, 3A), Jamille Matt (17G, 9A), Harry McKirdy (16G, 7A) and Mitch Pinnock (7G, 12A). 

Well-placed for automatic promotion, Exeter currently sit second in the table and Brown's creative talents and imagination could prove the difference for a team who have tasted play-off heartbreak in three of the past five League Two seasons.

In the shape of their talented Jamaican, Exeter have someone who can produce a moment of magic at the drop of a hat - and a player with genuine quality from dead-balls. Brown's two deliciously-whipped corners for a brace of Sam Stubbs headers in the Grecians' recent 2-1 win over Stevenage perfectly underline the latter point, as does the fact he tops League Two for key passes made (109) in 2021/22. 

In fact, across the top four tiers, only one player has completed more key passes than Brown this season - Accrington Stanley's Sean McConville (143).

Speaking to DevonLive last December, Exeter manager Matty Taylor said “He [Brown] is a better player than I thought he was – and that’s probably the biggest compliment I can pay to Jevani.

“He plays the game on another level in his brain and sometimes on the pitch and another level to his team-mates and the opposition, in terms of what he sees and what he can create."

With Exeter at the business end of the season, Brown's confidence and class could prove pivotal - with Grecians fans praying their club can clear the final hurdle and secure promotion to League One.  

Playmaker's 72

Check out the articles for all of those featured so far...

45: Luke Leahy 46: Liam Roberts 47: Lewis O'Brien 

48: Gavin Bazunu 49: Lloyd Kelly 50: Sepp van den Berg 

51: Wes Burns 52: Wes Foderingham 53: Ross Sykes 

54: Dan Neil 55: Kal Naismith 56: Fraser Horsfall 

57: Keane Lewis-Potter 58: Jack Diamond 

59: Christian Walton 60: Ricardo Santos 

61: Jack Rudoni 62: Matt Grimes 63: Ilias Chair 

64: Conor Grant 65: Peter Clarke 66: Callum Lang 

67: Viktor Gyökeres 68: Stephen McLaughlin 

69: Tom Lawrence 70: Davis Keillor-Dunn 

71: Emil Riis 72: Rob Dickie