By Billy Watkins
Four rows from the top of Denver’s Mile High Stadium on Jan. 18, Tim and Le Brown braved temperatures in the teens and a sideways snowstorm during the AFC Championship game.
They finally were able to ignore their nearly frozen hands and feet when it was time to make their way to the field to see their son, former Ole Miss center Ben Brown and a member of the victorious New England Patriots.
With the win, he was headed to the Super Bowl.
“It was a mess getting down there,” Tim said this week. “There were so many people bottle-necked, trying to get through the exit. By the time we got down to the field, Ben had already gone in with his teammates. We texted him and said we would meet outside the stadium where all the parents gather.”
In a matter of seconds, they spotted their son sprinting out of the tunnel and across the snow-covered field still in uniform and headed for them.
Ben hugged his dad first. It lasted a while.
“To see him hug his daddy like that — hug and hug and hug — that was one of the sweetest moments ever,” Le said. “I’ll never forget it.”
Said Tim: “Everything Ben had gone through to get to that moment, we were all feeling it. The lowest of lows and now the highest of highs. The Patriots had won, Ben had played a part in it. It was wonderful.
“He understands how tough this league is. He’s making the most of every day he gets to play and practice in it. He puts all he has into it so he can get the most out of it. And he’s persevered through injuries and being released by teams. Only the hand of God has has seen him through it.”
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Ben Brown, now 27, made his mark as a 6-foot-5, 315-pound center at Ole Miss for four seasons (2018-21). In 2020, the 6-foot-3, 315-pounder didn’t allow a sack.
At mid-season of his senior year, he suffered a season-ending torn bicep at Tennessee. “It’s a painful injury and the rehab is excruciation,” said Tim, a lineman at Ole Miss in the late 1980s.
Ben wasn’t selected during the NFL draft but signed a free agent contract with Cincinnati. During preseason camp, he suffered the same injury and was done for the year.
In 2023, Seattle — the Patriots’ opponent Sunday in Super Bowl LV in Santa Clara, Calif. — signed him just before the season. He played in his first NFL regular-season game, against the Carolina Panthers, but he spent most of the year on the practice squad. Seattle released him near the end of the season.
This is when doubt can creep into a player’s mind. Two teams have said “thanks, but no thanks.”
Tim, the pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Vicksburg, never questioned Ben’s frame of mind.
“I’m not saying this because I’m a pastor, but Ben knows God works in many ways for those who love him,” he said.
He made the Las Vegas Raiders’ practice squad in 2024. But in October of that season, New England claimed him and placed him on its active roster.
Ben started a game just days after joining the Pats. It was the same day quarterback Drake Maye made his first start. Ben started 10 consecutive games, but the Patriots struggled to a four-win season.
Things were about to change for the Patriots and for Ben. Mike Vrabel, the former New England linebacker, took over as head coach.
“We love Coach Vrabel,” Tim said. “You hear people say that this guy is a player’s coach or a coach’s coach. Well, Vrabel is both. He’s a great strategist. But what he really knows how to do is to motivate players, get people in the right places and get the most out of them.”
Ben has started five games this season and serves as the primary backup at center and both guard positions. He also plays on the field goal and point-after-touchdown teams, plus special offensive formations such as goal line and jumbo packages.
Two days before Christmas, the Patriots signed Ben to a two-year contract extension worth up to $6.6 million with a base salary of approximately $5 million.
“It was a total confirmation of what they think of Ben and also somewhat of a relief,” Tim said. “The fact that they did so before the season was over and before the draft, it told Ben that they like him, that he’s a fit for them and that they plan to use him.”
Tim paused, then said: “It’s nice to be wanted.”
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Ben’s family is full of football players.
Tim’s father, Allen, was an All-American end at Ole Miss and the 22nd player selected in the 1965 NFL draft. He was a member of the Green Bay Packers when they won the first two Super Bowls. In the final game of the 1967 regular-season, Brown was stepped on and suffered a bruised kidney, a broken rib and a ruptured spleen. It ended his career.
Le’s dad, Bobby Robinson, shared co-captain duties with Allen Brown on the Rebels’ 1964 team. An offensive lineman and linebacker, he signed with the San Diego Chargers. But his career was ended by a gruesome knee injury in the now-defunct Blue-Gray all-star game.
“Funny thing, my dad and Tim’s dad took a train together to New Orleans and used their signing bonuses to buy engagement rings for our mothers,” Le said.
Other family members also wore the Red and Blue: uncles Jerry Brown and Burkes Brown, and cousin Alton Brown.
Ben shut down his recruiting once Ole Miss offered him a scholarship. That was the only college uniform he ever wanted to wear.
“Of course, we were thrilled the family legacy was continued,” Tim said. “But when I watched Ben play at Ole Miss, I didn’t think about that a lot. I watched a kid who played football and played the trombone in the band at halftime at St. Aloysius (High School) in Vicksburg,” Tim said. “And thinking about this Super Bowl Bowl, we’re happy for Ole Miss, for Vicksburg, for St. Aloysius. We’re thrilled for everybody who has had a hand in this.”
Tim and Le attended “more than half” of Ben’s games this season. “My church has been so supportive, I can’t thank them enough,” Tim said.
Tim and Le will be at the Super Bowl, along with Ben’s two siblings — Bash, 29, a Captain in the U.S. Army and stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky., and Anna Ware, 24, who works in pharmaceutical sales. Bash’s wife and Ben’s girlfriend will also travel to the game.
“My heart is about to burst I’m so happy for Ben,” Le said. “We’ve gotten to see our son grow into the man that God intended him to be. I never even dreamed this. I never thought it would happen, but what a wonderful adventure Ben is experiencing.”
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PLAYERS WITH MISS. TIES IN SUNDAY’S SUPER BOWL
Seattle Seahawks
Charles Cross – (from Laurel, Miss. State)
Jamie Sheriff (from Terry) practice squad:
Chris “Pooh” Paul Jr. – (Ole Miss) practice squad
Cam Akers – (from Clinton)
Derick Hall – (from Gulfport)
Jared Ivey – (Ole Miss)
A.J. Finley (Ole Miss) injured reserve
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
Ben Brown (from Vicksburg, Ole Miss)
Darius Harris (from Horn Lake)
Miles Battle (Ole Miss) practice squad
Otis Reese (Ole Miss) practice squad
John Saunders, Jr. (Ole Miss) practice squad
