On December 18, 2023 Siosefa Brown signed his commitment to officially play football for Brigham Young University. Then on December 20th (the official signing date for D1 football), it was set in stone. After years of hard work for a variety of different sports and athletics in general this is a great accomplishment and an exciting opportunity for this rising star.
After a lot of hard work went into Brown’s senior football season, he was rewarded with offers from a variety of schools including the University of Utah, Utah State, Washington State, Cal Berkeley, Brigham Young University and Vanderbilt.
After careful consideration of each college BYU emerged as the perfect place. Brown had met with BYU’s coaching staff, including head coach Kalani Sitake, all of whom stood out as incredible coaches who he knew would support him and decided it was the place.
Brown used to be a University of Utah fan, but after his sister Sokopeti (Soko) Brown Yamazaki attended BYU and would come home each weekend and tell the family about how much she loved it, Brown saw BYU in a new light.
Brown also understood that BYU would also provide him with an excellent education.
“Honestly I think the education is more important than football,” Brown said. “My end goal right now isn’t to play in the NFL, so education will come first.”
He understands that education will be just as important as the sport he will play. When the time comes Brown will address the idea of continuing to play football professionally in the NFL. However, he is taking it one step at a time and knows for the moment the education he will receive will be more important.
Soko also played a role in Brown’s decision. She was supposed to be the first person in their family to graduate from college.
“I was my dream since she started going there and with her not being able to finish college, I just hope to fulfill both of our dreams” Brown said.
BYU came to be the best option for Brown. The university carried significance for his family and has an amazing football program. Meaning the university was able to give him two reasons to attend.
After years of hard work and commitment, this opportunity immediately became something Brown is excited about.
“I’m excited but I don’t really know what to expect,” Brown said. “This is something new for me and my family but it just exciting and an opportunity to make them proud.”
Brown is also a very talented basketball player, showing his athleticism. However, he hasn’t always seen a career in sports or football. Freshman and Sophomore year he was often hurt and wasn’t really looking at continuing his playing in college.
Nonetheless, he received the help and encouragement from Highland’s head football coach Kautai Olevao and Brown began to work a lot harder. He pushed himself to get stronger and became more focused on the craft and it paid off.
At BYU he understands that he will need to keep his grades up and also put in a lot of work in order to play his best.
“I know that I’m going to have to put in a lot of extra work if I want to play my first or second year,” Brown said.
But Brown is just the player for this kind of challenge. However, he has decided that he will be serving a mission in between his time at Highland and the next step of college football. This will definitely serve as a challenge, being away from football and training hard daily for 2 years.
There is the possibility that his mission will be a little bit shorter so that he has the time to come back and train again for the upcoming season. This means Brown will play for BYU in the 2026 season.
“I hope I can be the first in my family to play and graduate from college and make them proud,” Brown said.
