Notre Dame recruit’s dad, former Mr. Universe, greeted Brian Kelly wearing GoPro

After putting together a strong camp, Equanimeous St. Brown found his unique name on the Notre Dame depth chart as one of the second-team wide receivers. 

Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly told reporters in South Bend this week he had a unique experience recruiting St. Brown, too. 

“It was an interesting home visit,” Kelly said. “I was greeted at the door by his dad with a GoPro on his head. It was the first time that I was taped going into a home visit, so I was kind of a little nervous at first.” 

St. Brown’s father is no ordinary dad. John Brown was named Mr. Universe twice and can also boast of three Mr. World weightlifting titles, and Kelly said he assumes “there is not a lot of slacking in the home.” 

Meanwhile, St. Brown’s mother is German and makes sure her children — including not only Equanimeous, but also brothers Osiris Adrian Amen, Ra J. St. Brown and Amon-Ra Julian Heru J. St. Brown — have all received well-rounded educational experiences, as noted by SI.com last year. 

“It’s a wonderful family,” Kelly said. “As you know, they speak German in the home itself. They are also fluent in French. It was good, because I was totally confused most of the night, which I think that’s why we got him, because I couldn’t talk. It was perfect.

“But he’s a wonderful kid, a wonderful family. But I think that that’s probably right, the way you put it, is that he has not been one that has had the high peaks and the low valleys. I think what I was most impressed with him was that when he had a pretty good ankle sprain, he came back in less than two days. And that said a lot about his maturity. That said a lot about probably how he was brought up in that home.”