3-star OL Ben Brown is the 7th member of his family to sign with Ole Miss

Longtime Ole Miss commit Ben Brown officially signed his letter of intent on Wednesday, becoming the latest in a long line of family members to join the Rebels. Brown, a three-star offensive tackle out of Vicksburg, Miss., has had no less than six relatives play football for Ole Miss.

His dad, Tim Brown, was an offensive guard in the late ‘80s and his uncle Burkes Brown played offensive tackle in the early ‘90s. His two grandfathers, Allen Brown and Bobby Robinson, played together under Johnny Vaught from 1962 to 1964 and his great uncle, Jerry Brown, preceded them as a tackle in the late ‘50s. Cousin Alton Brown was a defensive lineman in the early ‘70s.

“To have the opportunity to play for such a great SEC school where I’ve had my family play before, there’s no words that I can use to describe this feeling,” Brown, who’s rated ranked as the 82nd-best offensive tackle in the country and the 17th overall prospect in Mississippi, told The Clarion-Ledger after committing to Ole Miss last February. “It’s incredible. I’m just extremely blessed to have the opportunity. Ole Miss is such a great program. I’m just very excited to have the opportunity to be coached by coach Freeze and coach Luke. It’s incredible to have a chance to play for a team that’s competing for a national championship.”

Brown, who played his high school ball at St. Aloysius, chose the Rebels over offers from Vanderbilt, Missouri and Southern Miss, among others.

How does he fit in?

Brown told The Clarion-Ledger that he may end up moving to guard since Ole Miss signed four tackles—including five-star Greg Little and four-star Bryce Mathews—in last year’s cycle. Brown is aggressive and finishes his blocks well, but at 6’6 he also has the length to reach out for blocks on the perimeter and force speed rushers to the outside. He’s likely to need a redshirt year to acclimate to the speed and physicality of the SEC, but he should be a consistent contributor along the interior of the line in the future. The current starting duo of rising juniors Javon Patterson and Jordan Sims could be on campus through 2018, but the 2017 graduation of key backup Daronte Bouldin could open some room for Brown once his redshirt comes off.

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