Illinois Football: 4 observations from the Illini win over Minnesota

4. Chase Brown is on pace for a rare accomplishment

It is not every season you get a special player at the running back position. Illinois fans have been able to enjoy some solid running backs in the past, but there have been very few ball carriers like Chase Brown.

Brown has played in just eight out of the 10 games for the Illini this season, but he has been sensational when touting the rock. He has three games above 140 yards rushing and in two of those contests, he has surpassed the 220-yard mark.

The great running performances by Brown have netted him 851 yards on the ground. With two games to play, the Canadian sensation would only need 149 yards in the final two games, or 74.5 yards per game, to hit the 1,000-yard rushing mark this season.

Rushing for 1,000 yards isn’t a common thing with the Orange and Blue, though. One might think we have had good rushers in the past, so 1,000 yards is nothing for the Illini. But that isn’t the case at all.

If Brown does hit 1,000 yards rushing, he would be the first 1,000-yard rusher since Reggie Corbin all the way back in 2018. I know, that isn’t a long time ago, but since the 2000 campaign, you can count the Illinois 1,000-yard rushers on one hand.

It would be Brown in 2021 and Corbin in 2018. You would then go back to 2010 with Mikel Leshoure when he ran for 1,697 yards. Rashard Mendenhall would be next in 2007 with 1,681 yards. Finally, Antoineo Harris rounds out the list in 2002 with 1,330 yards on the ground.

So, Brown has a chance to enter an exclusive list of Illinois running backs over the past couple of decades. It isn’t every season we get a rusher like him. Let’s enjoy what we are watching. The crazy thing is, Brown can play two more seasons after the 2021 campaign.