Brown's Done All He Can for UConn

A few weeks ago Donald Brown announced that he would come back to UConn for his senior year. The announcement was not taken completely seriously, since most players either say something like that or carefully phrase a non-denial only to "re-evaluate" their decision after their bowl game.

Well Brown finished off the season as the nation's leading rusher by going for another 261 yards in the International Bowl. He cracked 2000 yards for the season as the UConn Huskies beat Buffalo, 38-20. At the post-game press conference, UConn coach Randy Edsall and Brown did not bother to keep the pretense going any longer.

"I'm not coming back," Brown said. "I'm going to the NFL. I know I told you guys earlier that I was coming back but that was too eliminate the distractions on our team. We had enough internal distractions going on and they didn't need that one as a burden as well so I apologize for "lying" for what I did to protect my team. They mean the world to me, so I'm willing to put my neck on the line for them."

It is something of a rarity that Brown admitted that he had made up his mind well in advance. No pretending that he had a change of heart. No "reconsiderations." Not sure how much it was to "protect" his team, though, as much as it was trying to avoid being asked about it for nearly a month.