Trent Dilfer wasn’t surprised when his former quarterback, Hank Brown, had a strong starting debut for Auburn, managing to avoid mistakes even in heavy rain.
The former NFL quarterback believes this is one of Brown’s best qualities: his ability to assess risk versus reward and steer clear of costly errors. Dilfer compares Brown’s playing style to golf.
“He’s never going to make it worse,” said Dilfer, who is now the head coach at UAB. “It’s always going to be par or better. He’s like Scottie Scheffler and Tiger Woods in their prime. They won’t give the game away.
They might lose, but they won’t hand it to anyone. Hank’s going to make his pars and get some birdies. He won’t have many bogeys or double bogeys.”
After a solid debut against New Mexico, Brown is preparing for his second college start this Saturday at home against Arkansas, marking the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
He outperformed more well-known competitors to become Payton Thorne’s main backup and earned the starting position after Thorne threw four interceptions in a loss to California.
Brown completed 17 of 25 passes for 235 yards and threw four touchdowns to four different receivers. His message to Dilfer afterward was, “Lots to clean up.”
This performance came against a New Mexico defense that improved from being the worst in FBS to No. 132 after that game. Now, Brown faces the Razorbacks.
“It’s definitely an uptick in competition,” Brown said, noting he was solid off the bench in the Music City Bowl in his only game last season. “They’re going to have a better defense than what we faced last week. I’m excited for it.”
Brown took a unique path to Auburn and the SEC, leading Dilfer’s Lipscomb Academy team in Nashville, Tennessee, to a D2-AA state championship and a perfect 13-0 record in 2022.
Brown initially intended to play at Liberty for coach Hugh Freeze, who had been recruiting him throughout high school. However, after Freeze moved to Auburn, Brown decided to follow him instead of going to UAB to join Dilfer.
“It’s so cool, because he’s seen this vision the whole time,” Brown said. “I think both of us have. Just being able to fully see it through and play for him while growing our relationship is just an honor.”
Freeze mentioned he always thought Brown had a special quality.
“I’ve always had this kind of sneaking belief that he had something to him, and now we’re getting ready to find out at what level,” Freeze said. “There’s no question he does. We’ll see how he compares to the rest of the SEC.”
Brown was not heavily recruited out of high school. He was rated as the No. 71 quarterback prospect in the nation and received a three-star rating according to 247Sports.
He joined Lipscomb Academy before his junior year after his father, Eric—a three-time All-American soccer player at Wheaton College—moved the family from Chicago for work.
They chose Lipscomb even though it meant he would spend a year behind Luther Richesson, who eventually signed with Cincinnati and is now at Middle Tennessee.
Brown got his chance to start in a preseason game without having practiced with the first team when Richesson and some other starters got sick.
“He went out and threw for like 370 (yards), and I said, ‘Well, we’ve got two really good ones,’” Dilfer said. “From that moment on, I knew Hank was going to be a great player.”
Dilfer mentioned that Brown might have been underrated because some coaches assumed he was just a product of the offensive system.
