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Living in the trenches, a world of grunts and oomphs, Colorado offensive tackle Victor Rogers never gets to see a play develop. As is the case with most of his Big Ugly brethren, games unfold through Rogers ear holes. Once the ball is snapped, Rogers hears the muffled crunch of bodies hitting bodies followed by the pitter-patter of some scatback, slasher or soft-shoe dancer.

This August, though, during the Buffs first scrimmage, Rogers heard something different after those initial crunches. The squads fourth-team tailback had taken a deep handoff, picked a hole and CRACK-K-K! The sound -- something like a cinder block dropped on a carton of eggs -- echoed across the field. Colorado Buffaloes, meet Chris Brown, your new running back. You hear an explosion when he hits in there, says Rogers. When Chris gets those shoulders square, theres going to be a lot of poppin.

Brown is a gate-crasher. The term not only describes how the sophomore banged his way into the starting backfield, it also fits his running style -- upright, decisive and powerful. In a deep stable of thoroughbred tailbacks, Brown is the plow horse. His brute force complements CUs cutback runners: Cortlen Johnson, Bobby Purify and Marcus Houston. The quartet, which RB coach Eric Bieniemy has dubbed the Four Horsemen, has led the Buffs to 229 rushing yards per game (eighth best in the nation) and a whopping 286-yard average in their last three games, all wins over bowl-bound teams.

Brown really separated himself from the herd in Colorados 62-36 rout of Nebraska on Nov. 23. Behind a dominant O-line, Brown mauled Nebraskas vaunted Blackshirt defense for 198 yards and a school-record 6 TDs. And nearly all the damage came on a play the Buffs didnt even put into the playbook until the week of their 41-7 drubbing by Texas on Oct. 20. Thats the money-maker, 98G, says Brown.

Colorado knew it had hit the jackpot after the Nebraska rout. Few players fit a system, never mind a play, better than Brown does 98G. Colorado runs it to the strong side, where the 6'7", 320-pound Rogers seals off the inside while guard Andre Gurode, a 6'4", 320-pound roadgrader, pulls outside. They clear a path for fullback Brandon Drumm to escort Brown downfield. By the time the 6'3", 230-pound tailback hits the line of scrimmage, he has enough steam to knock down a brick wall, never mind the likely solitary safety remaining. The best part about 98G that day, Buffs linemen say, was that the Huskers were expecting it and could do nothing about it. They didnt want any part of Chris, says Rogers. After a while they tried to rodeo him. You know, just jump on his back and go for a ride instead of sticking their helmet in there and delivering a good hit. A week later, in a rematch with Texas for the Big 12 title, Brown rode 98G for 182 yards and another 3 TDs in a 39-37 CU win.

Nine touchdowns against a pair of Top-5 teams has made Brown the toast of Boulder. But talk of his transcendence has been muted by allegations of his teammates transgressions. On Dec. 13, the day CU began preparations for a Tostitos Fiesta Bowl matchup with Oregon, published reports told of CU players being investigated for rape. Barnett and his players closed ranks. Barnett says no suspensions will be handed down unless charges are filed. And team members say the investigation, which involves several players and recruits who attended an off-campus party on Dec. 7, wont be a distraction. Neither will the drama surrounding the BCS mess, much of which CU caused when it slammed Nebraska and Texas.

Still, for all of Browns heroics in the past month, few of his teammates know much about him. Just that he has this perpetual grin on his face, like hes living in a dream -- or at least reliving the Nebraska game. He wears that same expression whether hes lifting weights, sitting in film sessions, getting taped up or even strolling off to class in the freeze-your-face-off cold of Boulder.

Maybe his teammates would understand Browns smile if they knew that his road to stardom hasnt been nearly as direct as 98G. Five years ago, Barnett recruited Brown, a 10.9 sprinter from Naperville, Ill., when the coach was at Northwestern. Brown has known Barnett since he was 12, because Browns older brother Levelle was NUs fullback from 1995-98. But the younger Brown never got the chance to play for Barnett because the coach took the Colorado job in January of 1999.

In his first camp at Northwestern, Brown showed the Cats new coach, Randy Walker, enough to rise to second on the depth chart behind sophomore starter Damien Anderson. But Walker still asked Brown to redshirt so thered be some eligibility distance between the two backs. Brown consented, but the young running back immediately felt like he wasnt part of the team. A few weeks later, while working on the scout team, he ruptured two disks in his back and underwent surgery.

He was back for spring ball, but the coach then told Brown he was being switched to wide receiver. It was a curious move, Brown thought, especially since hes the first to admit he doesnt have the surest pair of hands. Brown tried receiver anyway but hated it. Bewildered and lost, he phoned his dad, Levelle Brown Sr., in the middle of spring practice. Im through with football, the 18-year-old said. If I never play another game, so what? At least Im away from the headache.

Levelle Sr. couldnt believe his ears. He had reworked his schedule as a factory supervisor to attend every one of his sons games since Chris was 5. And now he was quitting? Do you love the game? he asked. Yes, said Chris. But I really dont want to play the game right now. Theyve made me hate it.

Chris left Northwestern and headed home, but his father wasnt ready to let his boy give up. If you dont get a football scholarship, he told Chris, I cant send you to college. Chris quietly sat around the house for a month. For the first time in his life, the smile was gone. My dad really put the weight on me, he says.

What Brown didnt know was that his dad was working the phones, calling the schools that had pursued Chris a year earlier. Michigan State and Boston College, Browns other two finalists, didnt have much interest. But Gary Barnett, now at Colorado, did. Trouble was, Barnett had no scholarships available. He told the Browns about Fort Scott CC in Kansas, from where he had just signed QB Bobby Pesavento.

During his one season at Fort Scott, Brown rushed for 1,284 yards and 13 TDs while averaging 6.9 yards per carry. When recruiters suddenly started showing up again, Brown told them he wasnt interested in any school but Colorado. Even though the Buffs returned Houston, Purify and Johnson -- all capable of being No. 1 backs -- Brown saw opportunity in Boulder. CUs incumbent trio had produced only 122 rushing yards per game while the Buffs were going 3-8 in 2000.

Brown arrived in Boulder this past summer with little fanfare. He looked pretty big and clumsy, says Purify. I thought he was a fullback. Everyone else around CU was thinking linebacker or tight end. Barnett, who had last seen Brown two years earlier, when he was 30 pounds lighter, admits linebacker was what he thought when the jacked-up tailback reported. But he knew how badly Brown wanted to carry the ball, and after that first scrimmage, so did his new teammates. Hes the biggest back Ive ever seen, says Rogers. After those scrimmages, we knew we had something special.

Brown is an aberration in the Big 12, where hes the only rusher in the top 10 taller than six feet. His height lets him see more than the sawed-off pinballs who bounce in and out of traffic, hiding behind towering linemen. Being tall helps me as a running back, Brown says. I can see over blockers and see the linebackers, how fast theyre flowing, so I get to see where the cutback lane is.

Not that Brown needs to cut back often. Hes all downhill, just the way CU likes it. Chris fits this offensive line really well, says center Wayne Lucier. He makes us look good. Browns hard-nosed approach, Bieniemy says, helps the Buffaloes establish their attitude of physical football. Barnett, in fact, is so hungry to reinforce that spirit, he has plastered a sign on the locker-room door that is the last thing his team sees before storming the field: CU Punish.

The Buffs know exactly what punishment theyll be dishing out on Jan. 1 in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. And they dont care if Oregon knows, too. Chris Brown and 98G are coming right at them. When you know somethings coming and you cant stop it, says Brown, thats when you quit.

Just like Nebraska did.

This article appears in the January 7 issue of ESPN The Magazine.