With 21 seconds to play and Illinois holding a 12-point lead over Minnesota, safety Sydney Brown came down with his first interception of the season. It was a sunny but chilly fall Saturday, and the 45,683 fans who bundled up to celebrate homecoming let out a roar loud enough to shake the college town.
Brown’s heroics in the 26-14 victory weren’t the only ones from his family on a day that he and his twin brother, Illini running back Chase Brown, were homecoming kings. Chase rushed for 180 yards on a career-high 41 carries — his school-record eighth consecutive 100-yard game — caught a 40-yard touchdown pass and tied J.C. Caroline (1953) for the Illinois record for fewest games to reach 1,000 rushing yards in a season.
The leaves aren’t the only things changing in central Illinois this season. So is the energy around the Illini program after years of languishing at the bottom of the Big Ten and four coaching changes in a 10-year span.
Illinois (6-1, 3-1) is ranked No. 18 in the country — its highest position since 2011 — and is tied for first in the Big Ten West. And the Brown brothers are a huge part of the resurgence.
You can call it a “Champaign campaign.” In their fourth season together at Illinois, Sydney and Chase have quietly built their resumes on the field with hopes of playing professionally.
Growing up in London, Ontario, the brothers knew they wanted to play football, but their goals didn’t start so high. Their grandfather, uncle and father all played football. Their dad, Darren Isaac, played in the Canadian Football League for three seasons. Their mother, Raechel Brown, was a figure skater. Athleticism is in their genes.
The brothers, who are very particular about taking care of their bodies, share similar builds and demeanors and — until recently — hairstyles. Sydney is listed at 6 feet, 205 pounds, and has long hair he sometimes wears in a bun. Chase is 5-11, 205, but with a short cut and tattoos, making them easier to tell apart these days.
As young boys they would watch NFL games with their uncle, a New England Patriots fan, and their grandfather, a Dallas Cowboys fan. They didn’t get many games in their hometown, but they watched every team and every game they could, and football’s significance in their lives quickly grew. The brothers wanted to play football, and staying in Canada wasn’t likely to lead them to what they were seeing on TV.
As their career aspirations grew, and with the support of their mother and grandmother, the brothers embarked on a journey that took them far from everything they knew. As high school sophomores, the twins transferred to St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Bradenton, Fla.
Initially they had no idea if this plan would work. But once they applied, things moved quickly. They were accepted on a Wednesday and attended their first day of school that Friday.
“We didn’t really have an expectation,” Sydney told the Tribune after practice last week at the Smith Football Center. “We didn’t know if we were actually going to get into the school. So when things started rolling, we were kind of like, ‘Holy (bleep), this is actually going to happen. We’re going to be heading down to the States.’
“It was a big culture shock because we didn’t come from much. I’d say it changed us a lot as individuals. It helped us grow up early. The whole experience changed us for the better.”
The brothers immediately got to work with their new team. They led St. Stephen’s to back-to-back Sunshine State Athletic Conference independent state championships and were state finalists in track.
As they continued to excel at sports in a new country, their options for playing football at the next level continued to grow.
Chase, a three-star recruit in the Class of 2018, received offers from Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Ole Miss, Syracuse, Wake Forest, UCF and Tulane but ultimately chose Western Michigan because of its aviation program.
Sydney considered himself “under-recruited,” but then-Illinois coach and former Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith and his staff saw something in Sydney and he committed to the Illini.
“I really didn’t know anything about college football, NFL coaching, anything,” he said. “Lovie Smith didn’t really ring a bell to me when he started recruiting me. So as I got here and started getting enrolled, they started talking to me. I started to realize, ‘(Bleep), Lovie Smith’s a big name.’
“I didn’t have many looks going in. So when I had the opportunity to come here, I really didn’t come here with any expectation. I knew I wanted to play. I knew I wanted to help this program rebuild, but I didn’t know the impact it was going to have with the rebuild.”
‘Just like the old days’
For the first time in their lives, the brothers were apart. When they arrived on their respective campuses, not only did they have to adjust to their new environments, they also had to figure out how to go about their days without the other close by.
“FaceTime makes things so much easier,” Chase said. “It was weird being away for the first year because that’s the first time. I was FaceTiming him and I’m checking in on him. It almost felt disconnected in a way.”
But they wouldn’t be separated for long. After one season at Western Michigan, Chase entered the transfer portal and joined his brother at Illinois in 2019.
“When I put my name in the portal and this opportunity came up, it was one that I couldn’t pass up,” Chase said. ”It was just like the old days when we played on the same football team.”
The Illini went 6-7 that season, qualifying for a bowl game for the first time since 2014. Sydney was a third-team All-Big Ten selection after making 88 tackles and three interceptions, while Chase played in four games after his waiver for immediate eligibility — initially denied — was approved in October.
But as the Brown twins continued to grow their game in 2020, the program regressed in the pandemic-shortened season with a 2-6 record. Smith was fired on Dec. 13, 2020, after going 17-39 in five seasons at Illinois.
A week later, Bret Bielema was announced as his replacement. The former Wisconsin and Arkansas coach had spent the previous three seasons as an NFL assistant coach.
“It’s been a long journey. I can remember when I first came in here and things weren’t the best situation,” Chase said. “But when Coach B came in, it was like a switch flipped. Guys were putting in extra work. You could just see it all last year.
“We’ve had the talent, but right now it’s just taking one week at a time. We all say the same thing: Do your job. Be the best you and the wins are going to come.”
Though the Illini went 5-7 last year in Bielema’s first season, they had a few wins that started murmurs that perhaps the program was on its way back. The most notable was a 20-18 victory at Penn State that went to an NCAA-record nine overtimes.
Chase rushed for 223 yards in that game, the most by an opponent in Beaver Stadium history. He became just the third Illinois player to rush for 200 yards in multiple games in a season — having run for 257 three weeks earlier against Charlotte — and he finished the season with 1,005 yards in 10 games and his second straight third-team All-Big Ten selection.
That was merely an appetizer to what he has done this season. Chase has topped 100 yards in all seven of Illinois’ games, extending a streak that began in last year’s finale against Northwestern, and leads the country with 1,059 rushing yards (151.3 per game). He’s even starting to get mentioned as a Heisman Trophy contender, receiving two third-place votes in The Athletic’s most recent straw poll.
“If there’s a better player in college football who has had an effect on his program,” Bielema said after the win over Minnesota, “I’d like to know who it is.”
‘So much more to prove’
The Brown brothers believe Bielema brought a “winning culture” to Champaign.
“It’s his way to connect with the players,” Sydney said. “It’s his way to grab the attention of everybody and build trust. He gives us a vision of what to go after. It’s a brotherhood — tough, smart, dependable.”
After defeating Big Ten West rivals Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota in consecutive weeks, the Illini are already bowl-eligible for only the third time in the last 11 seasons.
“It’s another week to go 1-0, but this one, we’re going bowling in October,” Bielema said. “That’s a really good feeling, but I don’t think that’s the team’s goal. We want to go way past that.”
With the Brown brothers leading the way, that’s a strong possibility. Sydney has contributed 28 tackles and an interception to a defense that’s allowing the fewest points (8.86 per game) and yards (221 per game) in the nation. And with Chase chewing up yardage in chunks, the Illinois offense is controlling the clock with long drives, ranking sixth in the country in average time of possession (34:50).
As siblings and teammates, the Browns motivate each other to play at the highest level at all times. Though they say they don’t need music to get locked in, they’re big fans of fellow Canadian Drake when it comes to hype playlists. One of their biggest motivators is their competitive nature, and they’re especially competitive with one another. They aren’t allowed to go against each other in practice.
“When he makes a play, I want to top that,” Chase said. “And when I make a play, I know he wants to top that. It’s addictive. That’s what’s pushed us.”
Added Sydney: “We push each other in anything but more so on the field. It’s fun being on the sideline, being able to watch him do his thing. And then when he makes a play, it just encourages me to go out there and do something with the defense.
“It’s like a battle between the two of us to see who can play better. It’s fun and it only pushes the two of us.”
The brothers’ football aspirations have grown beyond their wildest dreams, and they hope to make it to the NFL. But for now, they want to focus on where they are.
“We try not to get too caught up in the moment because you put in all this work and then you see it all pay off on the field,” Chase said. “We know as quickly as you can excel, you can also be humbled just as quickly.
“Maybe at the end of the year you can look back and celebrate, but right now I really don’t think I’ve done too much and I know that he’s going to say the same thing. There’s so much more to prove not only for ourselves but the program.”
With the energy surrounding this team at its highest level in more than a decade, one has to wonder: Is Illinois football back?
“Yeah, I think as soon as Coach B entered the door, this program’s been back,” Sydney said, smiling. “We’re back.”
After this weekend’s open date, the Illini return to the field Oct. 29 at Nebraska. Four more conference games follow against Michigan State and Purdue and at Michigan and Northwestern.
As Drake once said, “We’ll see what’s ‘bout to happen next, okay? Okay? Okay?”
