St. Brown brothers preparing to invade FBS world

The name "St. Brown" stands out on the back of a football jersey much more than simply "Brown" does.

That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the St. Brown brothers – Osiris, Amon-Ra and Equanimeous, names you likely aren't familiar with now, but soon will be. All three brothers are Division I football prospects – Equanimeous has already committed to play receiver at Notre Dame next season, Osiris, a sophomore has an offer, while Amon-Ra, only a freshman already has two scholarship offers.

Let's start with those names. They're named after Egyptian Gods, at least Osiris and Amon-Ra. Equanimeous is a bit more complicated.

"A lot of people ask about our names," Amon-Ra said. "I have to tell the story every time, and I just say my dad is different, so he gave us different names."

The father is John Brown, a two-time Mr. Universe winner (1981-82) and three-time Mr. World champion ('81, '83, '84). His body building days took him from his hometown of Compton, Calif., to all over the world. While in Germany, he met the woman who'd become his wife, Miriam Brown.

Not only did John and Miriam name their children after Egyptian gods, they also added "St." to their kids' last names. John said that's because he wanted his sons to be distinguished.

It's possible he already saw them as football players.

"I changed their last names because I thought about what it would look like on the back of their jerseys," John said. "What's the last name Brown? There's too many. I said to my wife, let's go with St. Brown."

A unique name isn't all the St. Brown brothers have to distinguish themselves. Their elementary school days were spent at an all French-speaking school in California.

"It was never a question to me when I came here that my children should speak different languages," Miriam said. "I sent them to a French school where they spent just one hour a day speaking English."

In addition, Miriam spoke her native German language to the St. Browns and still does to this day. The St. Browns learned English from John. When listing to Amon-Ra speak, it's easy to pick up a French accent.

Speaking three languages is no doubt appealing to any college recruiting the St. Browns, who also excel in all academic subjects.

"They're good students," Miriam said.

They're also good football players. Amon-Ra, who holds offers from Utah and Washington State, just completed his freshman season at Servite (Anaheim, Calif.), and he's the most promising prospect of the three if you ask him.

"Me, of course," Amon-Ra said when asked who's the best football player of the three. "I'm the most athletic. I'm the one who can play any position on the field."

While Amon-Ra's recruiting process is still developing, receiver Osiris has formed a top five of Stanford, Notre Dame, Florida State and UCLA.

Both Amon-Ra and Osiris said they'll wait until their senior season before making a decision, just as Equanimeous did.

"My brother playing at Notre Dame obviously has an impact," Osiris said. "But I'm keeping my process wide open because I want as many schools to choose from as I can."

One thing's almost certain: Distance from home won't be a factor. When the St. Browns were still attending the French-speaking elementary school, their parents wondered how well they were learning French.

"We knew they were making A's, but it was a private school, and I didn't know exactly how much they knew," John said.

So the Browns made the decision to send their kids, who were in grade school at the time to a school in France for seven months.

"I was scared at first," Osiris said.

"I'd be scared too," John said. "My parents put me on a plane, to go to school in France? What are you talking about?"

Amon-Ra didn't know enough about what was going on to mind.

"I didn't really care," Amon-Ra said. "I didn't have many friends at the time so I just went along with it."

As it turned out, the French education the brothers were receiving in California paid off once they arrived in France. They spoke the language, made friends and did well in school.

"They finished in the top of their class," John said. "Teachers were shocked that these kids from California could be top in their class, so I was pleased we enrolled them at the [California] school."

With a well-rounded foundation, the St. Browns are looking to excel at the next level, with the ultimate goal being for all of them to reach the NFL.

"When we were young, Dad asked us what we wanted to become," Amon-Ra said. "We said we wanted to play football. He said he'd show us the way and he's been taking us through [this process] our whole lives."

Though his expertise is bodybuilding, John believes his experiences as the world's No. 1 bodybuilder can be passed on to his sons' football lives.

"I tell them that I'm from a different sport," John said. "It's an individual sport, so all I know is how to be the best in the world. But I can train you to be the best in the world, as well. I can teach you how to dominate.

"That's what it's all about."