Army Bowl: Amon-Ra St. Brown takes home MVP honors
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SAN ANTONIO – All-star games in the past have largely been more about the spectacle than who actually wins and loses. Five-star wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown did not approach the 2018 U.S. Army All-American Bowl with that mentality, though, and that was key to his MVP performance on Saturday.
“I don’t like to lose,” St. Brown stated. “I haven’t lost all year and losing isn’t in me.
“I wanted to come out here and make a point, like I always do wherever I go. Any camp, I want to dominate whoever is in front of me. I didn’t catch every ball today, but I did what I had to do.”
The effort from St. Brown resulted in four receptions for a game high 93 yards and one touchdown on the stat sheet. That touchdown came in the third period and allowed the West to tie the ball game at 10. They would eventually go on to win a 17-16 final.
Although St. Brown came to San Antonio as the highest ranked unsigned prospect in the Rivals100, an MVP performance was anything but assumed when the week started. The five-star had plenty on his mind, including an impending college decision that he was expected to announce during the Army Bowl telecast.
St. Brown took some of the pressure off his shoulders by coming to a choice in his own mind before hopping his flight to the Army Bowl. He told only close family before he finally announced he would play for the USC Trojans during the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game.
The choice of USC will keep St. Brown close to home, but it will also continue the chemistry he has built with his Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei teammate JT Daniels, who was also one of three quarterbacks on the West team this week. Daniels had previously committed to USC.
“It’s been amazing to play with JT,” St. Brown said. “With him reclassifying we’re going to go to SC at the same time. It’s going to be really fun.”
The chemistry with Daniels was evident throughout the week with St. Brown, and it was Daniels who delivered the back shoulder pass to St. Brown which he caught inside the 5-yard line and would take into the end zone. St. Brown is the type of receiver who makes it easy on quarterbacks, though, as West signal caller Tanner McKee found out this week.
“I have actually never thrown to him live,” McKee said. “I obviously knew he was a great receiver, but being able to throw to him was a great experience for me. You can put it anywhere and he’s going to get it, he’s going to attack it. He’s very aggressive with amazing hands.”
The third of three brothers to develop into nationally-recruited and highly-ranked wide receivers, this Army Bowl MVP performance solidifies Amon-Ra as the most accomplished prep in the St. Brown family. While older brothers Equanimeous (Notre Dame) and Osiris (Stanford) both ranked in the Rivals250, neither achieved five-star status as the youngest of the trio has done. Whether he becomes the most accomplished of the trio in college, though, remains to be seen and starts next year.
