"I went up there for the first time on a Junior Day," Brown said Thursday, "and it was just the best thing I've ever experienced." "I can trust the coaching staff, the players, the faculty," Brown said. "It's somewhere I feel like I'm loved, and I love it.
Brown said he's lost 110 pounds over the last three years, transforming himself into a new kind of lineman. "I'm a lot more mobile," he said. "I feel like my pass protection is better, my run blocking. I feel like I can move a lot better. "I'm down to 340 now. It's just been changing my diet, understanding my body."
"When the players are recruiting, it definitely helps a lot," Brown said. "That helped me. I wasn't even going to come up for a visit to Tennessee. "But I heard their facilities were good, they had a good coaching staff, so I thought I'd give it a shot."
Payne, one of the Vols' five 4-Star prospects, committed to Tennessee in early April.
"We call each other blood brothers, but that's my Godbrother," Brown said. "His dad grew up with my dad and I grew up with D'Andre when I was in D.C. We've just always been like brothers, always hung around a lot. "I've never had the opportunity to play with him, but I'm excited. I'm excited to be part of a family and have family there with me."