NEW PALESTINE — The notion of playing NCAA Division-I college football was always on the forefront of Matthew Brown’s mind, but the reality didn’t truly seem obtainable until last season.
A junior defensive end for the back-to-back Class 5A state champion New Palestine Dragons, Brown watched as fellow defensive lineman Kyle King achieved the pinnacle when he committed to Michigan State.
Soon after, teammate Maxen Hook committed to Toledo, and months later after the Dragons completed their repeat state championship run, Charlie Spegal earned a spot at Indiana University.
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Now, Brown is continuing the trend after verbally committing to the United States Air Force Academy earlier this week.
“Last year, when I saw Kyle make it to Michigan State, it was like, ‘Oh, wow. That could be me next year in that same position at defensive end.’ It just helped me work harder to get where I am today,” Brown said.
“Now, that I’m committed, I’m hoping the kids that are younger than I can follow in my footsteps as well. If they prepare themselves, hopefully, they can do the same thing we have.”
Brown had seven offers on the table to consider before he announced his official commitment on Twitter, but he trimmed the list down to three potential landing spots with each sharing one similarity.
“I really narrowed it down to three schools, all three academies,” Brown said. “Really, I felt something towards the Air Force Academy that I didn’t feel towards the other two academies. They were the first academy to actually offer me back in early March. I just kept in constant contact with all the coaches there.”
Brown chose the Falcons and the Mountain West Conference over the U.S. Navel Academy and Army West Point.
He had additional offers from Indiana State, Illinois State, Western Illinois and Lake Erie College. Indiana State was the first school to show interest and was the only college Brown was able to visit during his recruitment process.
With COVID-19 changing the recruitment landscape, Brown wasn’t able to take any official visits or meet coaches in person this spring. The process proved difficult, but Brown adapted quickly.
“We had constant Zoom calls and got to know them better there. Something clicked with us that didn’t really click with the other academies, so I decided to pull the trigger on Air Force Academy,” Brown said.
“Learning about the schools all online is so much more difficult because obviously, you’re meeting the coaches over phone calls and Zoom calls,” Brown added. “You’re not doing face-to-face contact with them. You’re not walking around campus. You can’t do anything that you want to do for this normal recruiting period because everything is locked down.”
Brown’s future is now what’s set in stone as he intends to carry on a family military tradition with his grandfather, Otis Brown, serving in the U.S. Army previously.
“In the Air Force, I’m thinking of doing special forces. So, I get my four years of college, possibly five, if I do the prep school, then after that you have the five years of service,” Brown said. “During that service time, I probably will try to do special forces. If not, then become a pilot because that has always intrigued me.”
Air Force was interested in Brown’s athleticism. At 6-foot-4 and 223 pounds, Brown started his high school career at tight end. A broken ankle slowed his progression, but he found a home on defense late into his sophomore season before becoming a full-time starter on the line last year.
As a junior, Brown had 52 total tackles with 25 solos and 10.5 tackles for a loss. He was named Indiana Football Coaches Association Junior All-State as a defensive lineman.
He finished the 2019 season with five sacks and six hurries with a blocked punt and two fumble recoveries.
“They recruited him as a defensive end, but everybody was really, as odd as it sounds, recruiting him as a little bit of an athlete also,” New Palestine head coach Kyle Ralph said. “It would not surprise me at some point, and I think he’ll be great at defensive end, if they look at him at tight end. I think he’s just that good at that position. He’s a surefire Division-I tight end as well.”
To become a Division-I player after first strapping on football pads in the first grade, he’s willing to earn time wherever possible, though he does have his preference.
“I’ve had a few schools contact me and ask me that question. ‘Where do you see yourself playing in college?’ I tell them, I’ll play wherever you want me to, but I really, really love the defensive side of the ball,” Brown said. “I love hitting people.”
Regardless, Brown is grateful to have his decision in place with the Dragons set to resume practicing on July 6 after being quarantined the past three months.
“It’s great to be committed before the actual season starts because that lifts a giant stress off of me, so now I can focus on a big senior year,” Brown said. “Hopefully, we get back-to-back-to-back state championships. That would be amazing, and then going off to college, starting off freshman year strong.”
While preparing for their title defense, the Dragons will strive to win both on the field and in the recruiting game with several other players continuing to get offers and looks heading into the 2020 campaign.
“Last year, when Kyle got his offer, to my knowledge, he was the first major Division-I scholarship kid that we had since Todd Yoder 20 years before that,” Ralph said. “I think what you’re starting to see is as we keep winning and our tradition keeps building more and more schools are coming in to see what we have.”
The Dragons have posted a 28-0 record over the past two seasons and have won 38 games overall in the past three seasons with state championships at 4A in 2014 and a runner-up finish at 5A in 2015 before repeating in 2018 and 2019.
Among those New Palestine senior players in position to potentially follow Brown are: Ethan Sturgeon, Blake Austin, Hunter Burks and Tucker Keevers.
“All those guys have been offered by an FBS or FCS school. We have a couple of young guys in the pipeline that are going to be in that same breath,” Ralph said. “We’ve gone from no Division-I players in 20 years and through these kids exceptional work and sacrifice, we’ve got seven or eight Division-I players in a small window here. No wonder it’s easy to win games when you have great players.”
