Blue White Illustrated

BROWN OUT Last year Brown served as a backup to Ed Ruth. This season, he is the starting 174-pounder with NCAA championship aspirations. Mark Selders/Penn State Athletic Communications you think? Not so fast. "Most of the myths you hear aren't myths," teammate James English said. "They're true." Lt. Col. Ken Weiland, professor of military science with the ROTC, said Brown can do at least 120 push-ups in two minutes – a rate of one pushup per second. On the day after Penn State's Jan. 14 dual meet against Michigan State, Weiland figured he would cut Brown a break from physical training. Take it easy, Weiland told the wrestler, you worked hard enough during your win yesterday. So instead of the normal 120 pushups, Brown stopped at 90. Weiland explained that all cadets are evaluated using the standard Army Physical Fitness Test. Each cadet must meet all three requirements for a perfect score of 300. A 22-year-old cadet like Brown must perform at least 75 pushups within a two-minute span; Brown nearly doubles that. Cadets must also do 80 sit-ups in two minutes; for Brown, that's cake. And they must run two miles in less than 13 minutes. How does the musclebound Brown handle the endurance part? His personal best is 12 minutes, 5 seconds. Because he reaches each benchmark with ease, Brown regularly scores a perfect 300. Using the extended scale, his scores can approach 350. Brown's physical abilities still amaze Weiland. Even more impressive, Weiland said, is the way he balances his responsibilities – ROTC, wrestling, religion and classwork – so effectively. "I'm not sure how he divides his time so well," said Weiland. Brown gets a little help from the ROTC. A regular cadet has a mandatory three-day-a-week physical fitness routine, but Brown and all varsity athletes in the ROTC need to attend only one per week because they work out vigorously with their teams. Brown's conditioning is never a concern. "He has the best attitude of anyone I've ever met," English said. "He's ready to come in and work every day – no matter if he's cutting weight or what's going on. He's always got a smile on his face and he's happy to be there. He's pumped and excited when we have conditioning – he's excited for conditioning." Where does the motivation come from? English can't pinpoint it. Brown humbly describes it as a desire for self-improvement. Weiland has his own explanation. "A lot of what Matt is all about is rooted deeply in his faith and family," he said. "And taking his mission reinforces that." Brown said he still draws from his experiences in Africa. In June 2009, after his freshman year at Iowa State, he shipped off to Mozambique to begin his mission. He spent about a year in Mozambique before traveling across the continent to Angola and didn't step foot outside of Africa until June 2011. During his time abroad, he didn't have much communication with his family back home in West Valley City, Utah. What little contact he had consisted of weekly emails and calls to his mom, Cindy, on Mother's Day and Christmas. If he could have called home more often, he would have. But the limited contact, he said, helped him stay focused. Not only was he living in Africa to help teach the Mormon religion to natives of Mozambique and Angola, but he also helped with their shelter. He dug wells, gathered firewood and assisted with other daily chores. "Our philosophy is that someone is not going to be worried about their spiritual needs if they're too concerned about their physical needs," Brown explained. "I knew that going into it, but once you're there and walking on the dirt roads and you see the 55year-old lady carrying firewood on her head – you're just like, 'Wow, this is different.' " Brown had to adapt to more than just the lifestyle. There was a language barrier, too, as most of the people he encountered spoke Portuguese. Heading into the mission, Brown's knowledge of Portuguese was minimal. Six months into the trip, though, he said he was fluent. Another challenge was staying in shape. His days were jam-packed with chores, studying and teaching, so there wasn't much time to work out. Plus, there weren't many weight machines on the African coast. But Brown had

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