Back in 2014, Dre Brown committed to the Illini. He was hoping to make his mark and establish himself in Big Ten football, but the former four-star recruit’s journey to becoming one of Illinois’ major contributors was far from painless.

During the training camp of 2015, an ACL injury sidelined him for all of what would’ve been his freshman season.

Just as he finally recovered, in the spring of 2016, Brown announced on Twitter he tore his other ACL and would once again be sidelined for another season with the Illini.

Brown was starting to doubt his future with the Illini and with football itself, but the now-senior running back has emerged as one of offensive coordinator Rod Smith’s most valuable weapons on the field.

“You really never stop fighting. Even if things aren’t going your way, that’s just life,” Brown said. “You just gotta keep your head down and keep working and eventually the good things will come.”

After missing the first 26 games of his Illini career, he finally made his debut against the Hawkeyes on Oct. 7. 2017. He’d play in six games and even make his debut start at running back, but injuries continued to plague Brown as he missed an additional six games that season.

He showed promise during his first season with a team season-long 50-yard kickoff return against Northwestern and had a career-high 76 rushing yards on 15 carries against Ohio State.

In 2018, Brown continued to build on his first season. He led the Illini in kick return yards with 330, averaging 22.0 yards per return, including a performance in which he had the most return yards in the Big Ten that season with 163 at Maryland. Against Minnesota, he pushed his career-high in rush yards even further, this time to a career-high 92 net rushing yards and his first career touchdown off of a 72-yard run.

With those two seasons under his belt, Brown was poised to play a bigger role coming into his senior year. He made his first start since 2017 against UConn, and over the last few weekends, Brown has proven why he’s a valuable piece of the Illini offense.

“I feel great. My mindset for every practice is just getting better. You truly get better as you go on through the season and really that’s been my focus,” Brown said. “We’re refreshing pretty fast. Every week I just get back to doing my old routine, and now that my body feels good, you can start to see it translate on Saturdays.”

Brown had rushed 11 times for 70 yards against then No. 6-ranked Wisconsin in Illinois’ Homecoming upset victory. He built on that afternoon the next week against Purdue. In cold and rainy conditions, Brown shined with a career-high 131 net rushing yards and 18 carries to lead the Illini to a 24-6 win.

“In those type of conditions, you have to be able to run the ball. That’s just prime Big Ten football. So that was our mindset,” Brown said. “Coach Rod told us before the game that it was on the line and running backs today, and it was good to deliver for the team.”

Fellow senior Reggie Corbin and Brown both talked about making history at Illinois, especially in their final seasons here. After the win against Purdue, the Illini now have a .500 record for the first time going into November in the Lovie Smith era. This weekend against Rutgers, the Illini have the opportunity to win three straight Big Ten games for the first time under Smith.

For Brown, such an accomplishment would leave the mark that he was looking to make, but the Illini have no intention of stopping here. Like many on the team, Brown has his eyes locked on getting eligible for a bowl game, and with two more wins, the Illini would qualify.

“I knew we were a good team; it was just a matter of time before it showed. It took a little bit longer than we thought for us to mesh together, but now that we’re starting to roll, there’s a confidence and swagger we carry about ourselves and we just want to continue that each week.”

With four more regular-season games left to cap off his career, the time for Brown and the Illini to close off the season strong is now.

“I wish I could show these two to three years prior. This is my game. Yeah, I’ve had some injuries, but I really feel like I overcame those and honestly have gotten stronger in the process. It’s cool to be able to show the fans who I am and what I can do on the field, especially in a larger role than I’ve had in the past.”

@jaredfarmer

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