Austin Brown, photo at left, chases a runner during a 2010 game against Eastern Michigan. The junior brings two years of starting experience into a season-opener at Missouri. Photo courtesy of Miami Athletics.
OXFORD, OH - There is something about a tank that can appeal to football linemen, so when a young Austin Brown got his chance to see U.S. Army tanks rumbling around the 7th Army Training Center in Grafenwoehr , Germany, it was a memorable event. Now a junior at Miami University, Brown tries to bring some of the “tank” mentality to the field.
“If you’re a tank, you’re running over everything,” Brown said. “There is nothing stopping you on your path. You’ve got to be able to do that on a football field, too.”
Brown’s tank-like “motor” helped him earn second-team all-MAC honors in 2010, and he is considered a key part of what figures to be a stalwart 2011 RedHawks defense. It is a defense that is both young and experienced. Many – like Brown - have already gone through significant highs and lows.
Last year, Miami won the MAC championship and added a victory over Middle Tennessee State in the GoDaddy.com Bowl. What made it particularly sweet was the fact that so many of the players had also been through some low times. A one-win season in 2009 was the most recent sub-.500 season, and Brown was on the front line of that campaign less than one year after finishing his prep career.
The son of a human resources officer in the U.S. Army, Brown first came to Ohio as a preschooler. His father was stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton. The family had stops in Germany and West Point, New York before Brown finished high school in Virginia.
He was originally going to play football at Youngstown State. but eventually followed new Miami assistant coach Anton Smith to Oxford.
New head coach Mike Haywood had insisted freshman would have an opportunity to play – even start at Miami. Throw in a couple injuries, and the doors opened even wider.
“We had a couple guys get hurt … and I had a chance to play right away,” Brown said, noting classmate JoJo White (now on the offensive line) also moved into a starting gig.
The 2009 opener was a baptism by fire for the many of the RedHawks. Southeastern Conference member Kentucky brought a seasoned squad and plenty of fans across the Ohio River to Paul Brown Stadium (home of the Cincinnati Bengals). When the last whistle sounded, Kentucky owned a 42-0 triumph.
“That was a rough game,” Brown said. “We only had two or three upper classmen on the field.”
He continued, “It was mind-blowing. A lot of us were talking about the speed of the game – the difference from high school to college. The big difference, … I believe, (is) it’s not really the speed of the game, but everybody’s technique.”
After getting smoked in the opener, Miami traveled to Boise State , where the No. 12 Broncos used both their speed and technique to post a 48-0 win.
Brown and the RedHawks continued to take their lumps, winning just once – a 31-24 nail biter at home against Toledo . At the same time, however, they were learning valuable lessons. It all paid off in the fall of 2010.
“When guys gain experience, they learn how to handle situations,” Brown said.
Miami lost its 2010 opener to Florida in “The Swamp,” but it was a 21-12 (Gators) game in the 4th quarter. Overall, there were signs that the young RedHawks were making progress.
One of the low points in the season came when Miami played Missouri in Columbia. The Tigers returned a fumble for a score on the first play from scrimmage, and it was downhill from there for the visitors in a 51-13 loss. Among the statistics were 469 total yards of offense for Missouri. That included 236 rushing yards and 233 passing yards.
“They did a good job of spreading us out on the field. Their line splits were like 2-3 feet across. (Also) Blaine Gabbert was like seven yards deep, so getting a sack was a rarity,” Brown said. “They did a good job of walling us off and running the ball.”
Blaine Gabbert may be gone (10th pick of NFL draft by Jacksonville), but the Tigers have nearly everybody else coming back following a 10-4 record in 2010. As with last year, this game will be played in Columbia.
Be that as it may, Brown knows the RedHawks matured throughout the 2010 season. Moreover, with a new staff in place, Missouri could be seeing a number of changes from Miami. New head coach Don Treadwell, in fact, has been reluctant to reveal much about his 2011 squad. The annual preseason Pigskin Picnic intrasquad game was cancelled.
Even if the RedHawks offense puts things together the way it did at the end of 2010, Brown and his defensive mates must find a way to stop the talented Tigers.
A step in that direction is to “know” the Tigers, and Brown has certainly worked on that. He cited studying film as one of the key components to his personal progress. “When you study offensive schemes, they can tip off a play almost 60-70 percent of the time,” he said.
Asked about a key to game,” Brown said, Missouri is “fundamentally sound, and they get really good recruits. They’re a really good team. For us to be successful, I think we’ve got to play with a chip on our shoulders.”
One could also say, “Be the tank, not the young tree in its way.”
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