Chase Brown

Former running back at Illinois. 2022: 1,643 rushing yards, 10 rushing TD, 27 catches.

RB · Illinois · Jr. · #2

5′11″ · 205 lb · London, ON

CFB Index 80 · #19 of 317 RBsHigh confidenceAll-ConferenceCincinnati — drafted 2023, Rd 5, Pick 29, #163 overall

The story

Former running back at Illinois. 2022: 1,643 rushing yards, 10 rushing TD, 27 catches.

Drafted round 5 by the Cincinnati in 2023.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Five seasons at Illinois, 3,541 rushing yards — drafted at #163 overall by Cincinnati.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

202110 games

All-Big Tenthird

202212 games

All-Big Tensecond

2023

Drafted by Cincinnatiround 5, pick 163

Career arc

Recruit

—

No recruit profile

CFB

College

2 teams

2018–2022

NFL

NFL Draft

R5 · #163

Cincinnati · 2023

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

6 honors · 1 category

🎖

ALL-BIG TEN · 2ND TEAM

All-Big Ten 2nd team (2022)

Coaching lineage · 2018–2022

3 coaches

2018–2019

Lovie Smith

Illinois

2020

Rod Smith

Illinois

era →

2021–2022

Bret Bielema

Illinois

era →

Played under 3 different head coaches: Lovie Smith, Rod Smith, and Bret Bielema. Multi-era developmental context.

Where He Ended Up · NFL

CincinnatiEntering 4th NFL season

#163Rd 5 · Pick 29

CincinnatiEntering 4th NFL season

View college career stats ↓

2022 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2018Western Michigan7-6HC: Tim Lester · Run-leaning

2019Illinois6-7HC: Lovie Smith · Run-leaning

2020Illinois2-6HC: Rod Smith · Run-heavy

2021Illinois5-7HC: Bret Bielema · Run-leaning

2022Illinois8-5HC: Bret Bielema · Run-leaning

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

80All-Conference level #19 of 317?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: carries (100th percentile). Strength: rush yards (99th percentile). Concern: epa / carry (22nd percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Yards / carry#228 / 398 · 43rd pct

5.0

Explosive rate#246 / 398 · 38th pct

5.8%

TD rate#273 / 398 · 32nd pct

3.2%

Success rate#303 / 398 · 24th pct

39.5%

EPA / carry#310 / 398 · 22nd pct

0.04

Box-score rates (8)

Carries#2 / 346 · 100th pct

328

Rush yards#4 / 346 · 99th pct

1643

Rec yards#33 / 338 · 90th pct

240

Receptions#35 / 338 · 89th pct

Rush TDs#35 / 346 · 88th pct

Long run#149 / 346 · 56th pct

Yards / carry#149 / 346 · 55th pct

5.0

Fumbles lost#195 / 244 · 13th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / carry

60th → 22nd percentile

Success rate

64th → 24th percentile

Explosive rate

88th → 38th percentile

Yards / carry

76th → 43rd percentile

TD rate

15th → 32nd percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2022 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Home7g	138	5.4	0.7
Road5g	136	4.7	1.0

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	151	5.8	0.6
Weeks 8+5g	117	4.2	1.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Bret Bielema

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2022

All-Conference

Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

80 · #19 of 317 RBs

Career stats

Season	Team
2022	Illinois	328	1,643	5.0	10	--
2021	Illinois	170	1,005	5.9	5	--
2020	Illinois	103	539	5.2	3	--
2019	Illinois	1	2	2.0	0	--
2018	Western Michigan	71	352	5.0	0	--
Career		673	3,541	5.3	18	--

Season	Team
2022	Illinois	27	240	8.9	3	--
2021	Illinois	14	142	10.1	0	--
2020	Illinois	7	64	9.1	0	--
2019	Illinois	--	--	--	--	--
2018	Western Michigan	10	75	7.5	0	--
Career		58	521	9.0	3	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 7 · 2022

W 26–14

vs Minnesota

180 rush yds (41 car)

With T. DeVito — 252 yds · 1 TD · 0 INT · QBR 96.0 · 17 rush yds (3 car) · 1 TD · H. Robertson — 39 AVG · 47 LONG · 3 NO

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 5 · Wisconsin · 2&8 · Q3 · EPA +4.57Chase Brown 49 Yd Run (Caleb Griffin Kick)
Week 1 · Indiana · 4&1 · Q4 · EPA -4.21Chase Brown run for a loss of 3 yards to the Ind 4
Week 10 · Michigan State · 4&2 · Q4 · EPA -3.55Chase Brown run for 1 yd to the MchSt 19
Week 13 · Northwestern · 3&4 · Q4 · EPA +3.52Tommy DeVito pass complete to Chase Brown for 43 yds to the Nwest 2 for a 1ST down
Week 7 · Minnesota · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +3.19Tommy DeVito pass complete to Chase Brown for 40 yds for a TD, (Fabrizio Pinton KICK)
Week 12 · Michigan · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +3.05Chase Brown run for 37 yds for a TD, (Caleb Griffin KICK)
Week 2 · Virginia · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.65Chase Brown run for 36 yds to the Virg 32 for a 1ST down
Week 12 · Michigan · 3&2 · Q3 · EPA +2.61Chase Brown run for 8 yds for a TD, (Caleb Griffin KICK)
Week 10 · Michigan State · 3&5 · Q2 · EPA -2.60Chase Brown run for 18 yds to the MchSt 22 Chase Brown fumbled, forced by Xavier Henderson, recovered by MchSt Aaron Brule
Week 1 · Wyoming · 3&1 · Q2 · EPA +2.57Chase Brown 11 Yd Run (Caleb Griffin Kick)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2022 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 38-6vs Wyoming	19	151	7.9	2	38	Season-high 199 yds
Wk 1	L 20-23@ Indiana	36	199	5.5	0	32	Season-high 199 yds
Wk 2	W 24-3vs Virginia	20	146	7.3	0	36
Wk 4	W 31-0vs Chattanooga	20	108	5.4	1	24
Wk 5	W 34-10@ Wisconsin	25	129	5.2	1	49
Wk 6	W 9-6vs Iowa	31	146	4.7	0	23
Wk 7	W 26-14vs Minnesota	41	180	4.4	0	17	180-yard day
Wk 9	W 26-9@ Nebraska	32	149	4.7	1	21
Wk 10	L 15-23vs Michigan State	33	136	4.1	0	18
Wk 11	L 24-31vs Purdue	23	98	4.3	2	18
Wk 12	L 17-19@ Michigan	29	140	4.8	2	37
Wk 13	W 41-3@ Northwestern	19	61	3.2	1	13
Total		328	1643	5.1	10	49