8/22/2023 football Edit

Rutgers Football’s Ireland Brown talks second year on OL, training camp

Craig Epstein • TheKnightReport

Staff Writer

It has been quite a journey for Rutgers center Ireland Brown considering he began his career as a defensive tackle at Boston College before transferring to Rutgers in his sophomore season. Despite coming to the banks as a defensive lineman, Brown moved over to left guard in 2021 before settling into center a year later.

"At the end of the day, I am a team player and I will do what is best for the team," Brown said. "My mindset is to grow closer together and become a good offensive line. It is a team sport, one person is not bigger than the five, so we just got to be together and be a good offensive line."

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Brown started 11 games last season and was named to the Academic All-Big Ten list and earned the Mark Mills Second Effort Award as the team's most improved offensive player during spring practice.

Unlike previous seasons, head coach Greg Schiano wasted no time announcing who the team's starting quarterback would be as he anointed Gavin Wimsatt before training camp even began. So, Brown talked about his reaction upon hearing the news and how he has seen the junior develop.

"I was pretty excited because that's my boy," he explained. "His leadership on and off the field has grown tremendously, and I've watched him grow up in front of my own eyes. His football IQ, being able to read defenses and everything, he's just overall a better player now."

Despite this being the first season Brown has worked with new offensive line coach Pat Flaherty, the Jamaica, NY native raved about his knowledge of the game and feels lucky he gets to learn from him on a daily basis.

"That man knows every aspect of the offensive line and the game," Brown said. "Just sitting with him and soaking up the knowledge and picking his brain, you will learn a lot. Being one of his players you can coach a whole offensive line yourself."

Brown echoed the same sentiments when discussing first-year offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca and appreciates the lengths he will go to make sure the offense is on the same page.

"Coach Ciarrocca has been pretty good too," he added. "He breaks it down to the littlest minute details so you can understand why the play works and what the play is for."

With the season-opener against Northwestern less than two weeks away, Brown discussed what training camp has been like and how he is acclimating to another year as the middleman of the offensive line.

"Training camp has been going pretty good," he said. "Everybody has been growing close together as a team and we've been getting better."