Johnston City football phenom makes it official, signs with Wisconsin

JOHNSTON CITY - Johnston City's Austin Brown made it official Wednesday afternoon, signing a national letter of intent to play football for the University of Wisconsin next fall.

About two dozen family, friends and teammates were there for the signing.

Brown, whose college offers included Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern, Boston College, Duke, Vanderbilt and Louisville, gave a verbal commitment to the Badgers in July.

"I have always thought I made the right decision," Brown told those gathered in the Johnston City High School commons. "Today, I just made it official."

Brown's mom, Patti Parks, said Wisconsin "checked all the boxes" for her son.

"He loved everything about it," she said.

For Brown, the decision has a lot to do with his future possibilities.

"They have one of the best defensive coordinators in college football - former NFL pro Jim Leonhard - and I feel that being coached by him can help send me to the next level," he said.

Going to the next level would please his little brother, Andrew, who witnessed his brother's big day.

"It's really cool," said the fifth grader, "especially coming from here. I think he'll have lots of success."

Andrew hopes to see his brother wind up a Seattle Seahawks (note: Seahawk QB Russell Wilson played a year for Wisconsin), while the youngest of the Brown boys, Aaron, is geared up to be a Badger fan.

During his high school career, Brown racked up impressive numbers.

"While good, his numbers aren't gaudy," said Indian head coach Todd Thomas. "They could have been a lot better if we had played him more, especially this past season, but we wanted to use him as wisely as we could. And to Austin's credit, he understood that."

As a quarterback in his junior season, Brown completed 39 of 75 passes for 619 yards passing and rushed for 506 yards on 54 carries. He had seven touchdowns in a season cut short by COVID-19, leading his team to a 6-0 finish and a share of the Black Diamond crown with rival Fairfield.

"Today is a big day for Austin. It's a big day for his family. It's a big day for our program," Thomas said.

"This is kind of uncharted territory for us being a small Class 2A school in southern Illinois. Austin's very gifted. He's applied his work ethic to the trade that he wanted to do, so we're very happy for him.

"And we know that he'll do well up there and will represent not only Johnston City but southern Illinois in a great manner."

Thomas said Brown's success has had a positive impact on his team.

Thomas said Brown's motivation to excel and play at the next level, a level that few kids from Johnston City have ever achieved, has inspired his teammates.

"It's raised the expectations in our program," said Thomas. "We now have a lot of kids interested in playing at the college level and they're putting in the work to succeed."

Teammate Corbin Hickey, on hand to watch his friend sign for the future, agreed.

"He certainly deserves to be a Division I Big Ten athlete," said Hickey, who is hanging up his own helmet after high school to study construction management.

Brown, a member of JC's 1,000-point club in basketball, chose to not play that sport this year. He is spending the extra time working out to prepare for football.

"I'm going to go to Wisconsin and give it everything I have," said Brown, who attributes his work ethic and attitude to his mom, who was also a standout athlete at JCHS.

"She's a hardworking, independent woman who has raised my brothers and me by herself," said Brown. "When it comes to hard work, I get that mindset from her."

As for Parks, she plans to attend as many games as possible in person and hopefully the rest will be televised.

"It's amazing to see all his hard work pay off," said Parks. "He's found his passion in football."