He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes, winning a national championship in 2015 before being selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL draft.

[2][3] He finished with over 3,000 all-purpose yards and 42 touchdowns, after playing at wide receiver, running back and kick returner.

He had multiple visits to Columbus in 2013 and opted to shut down his recruiting early and commit to Ohio State five months before National Signing Day.

[4] As a true freshman in 2014, he played in all 14 games in a backup role, including the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship victory over Oregon.

The next year, he excelled in spring practice and was expected to earn the starting wide receiver job, until suffering a broken left tibia and fibula late in fall camp during a non-contact drill, forcing him to redshirt for the 2015 season.

In the third game against the University of Oklahoma, he tied a school record with 4 receiving touchdowns, while totaling 5 receptions for 72 yards.

[7][8] On January 7, 2017, Brown announced via Twitter that he decided to forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft.

[10] On March 23, Brown attended Ohio State's pro day along with Marshon Lattimore, Gareon Conley, Raekwon McMillan, Curtis Samuel, and five other prospects.

He performed the 40-yard dash, 20-yard dash, and 10-yard dash as scouts and team representatives from all 32 NFL teams looked on, including head coaches Bill Belichick (New England Patriots), Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers), Hue Jackson (Cleveland Browns), Mike Mularkey (Tennessee Titans), Sean Payton (New Orleans Saints), Jim Caldwell (Detroit Lions), and Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati Bengals).

At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Brown was projected to be a fifth or sixth round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts.

[19] Throughout training camp, Brown competed for a roster spot as the fifth or sixth wide receiver on the Cowboys' depth chart against Brice Butler, Lucky Whitehead, Andy Jones, and Lance Lenoir.

[20] Head coach Jason Garrett named Brown the sixth wide receiver on the Cowboys' depth chart, behind Dez Bryant, Terrance Williams, Cole Beasley, Butler, and Switzer.

In Week 16, his blocking ability secured his first career start in the Cowboys' 21–12 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, as the offense opened with 3 receivers.

Brown began training camp on the physically unable to perform list, because of an offseason arthroscopic knee surgery.

[28] He was declared inactive for the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, after being activated from the Reserve/COVID-19 list the previous day.

Although he started against the Kansas City Chiefs, substituting Amari Cooper who was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list, he wasn't able to record any offensive stats and dropped 2 passes.

[30] He came into training camp leaner and quicker, to take advantage of the additional snaps available at the wide receiver position; Cooper was traded, Cedrick Wilson Jr. left in free agency and Michael Gallup was still in the process of recovering from an offseason ACL surgery.