Top Power 5 rusher Brown leaves Illinois for draft
Illinois junior running back Chase Brown is entering the 2023 NFL draft and will not play in the ReliaQuest Bowl versus No. 22 Mississippi State on Jan. 2, the school revealed Friday.Brown, ranked
as the No. 9 running back in the draft by ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., thanked his household, colleagues, coaches and fans in a tweet revealing his choice.
“Through the low and high, my time at Illinois has been the very best experience of my life,” Brown wrote. “I made a degree, advanced as an athlete, and formed lifelong connections.”
New Beginnings. #ILL #DHGB pic.twitter.com/BM18BZv6pF!.?.!— CHASE BROWN(@chasebrown____
)December 23, 2022 Brown led the Power 5 and was third in the FBS this season
with 1,643 hurrying backyards along with 10 touchdowns.The first running back in program history to be named a Doak Walker Award finalist, Brown
leaves Champaign as the school’s second-leading profession rush (3,558 lawns from 2019 to’22)behind Robert Holcombe(4,105 backyards from 1994 to’97)and with the third-highest single-season hurrying total behind Mikel Leshoure (1,697 lawns in 2010) and Rashard Mendenhall(1,681 backyards in 2007). Brown’s twin sibling, Sydney, a defensive back for the Illini, announced Saturday he was
going into the draft. He is noted as Kiper’s No. 7 security and also will not play in the championship game.