MISSOULA — Liam Brown was spared some of the physical tussles as a kid.

The Montana offensive lineman wasn't allowed to be thrown through walls or get beat up by his older brothers as he was the youngest of four boys growing up in Beaverton, Oregon. That began to change when he started playing football in third grade and his dad had a preposterously sounding task.

"I was a little babied growing up until I got into football," he said. "Then I was told if I stopped before contact he'd make me hit a tree until it moved. So I hit a tree in our backyard until it would sway. Or until he got tired of watching me hit it."

Brown doesn't remember the type of tree he was ramming his shoulder pads into other than it was full grown. He might certainly have more luck with that tree as a bulldozing of

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