He played college football at West Virginia, and was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent following the 2010 NFL draft.

[3] Brown received scholarship offers from Central Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, NC State, and West Virginia.

He sat out his true freshman season on redshirt status after losing the competition for starting quarterback to Pat White.

He discussed transferring to another college with his family once but felt loyal to West Virginia, which was the first school to offer him an athletic scholarship and countenance his playing both football and basketball.

Brown spent the offseason working out with the linebackers in the weight room and studying head coach Rich Rodriguez's playbook.

"[9] White was eventually knocked out of that game by injury, and Brown replaced him for the remainder and led West Virginia to win, 24–17.

[14] After the game, head coach Bill Stewart defended Brown and said, "He's learning, and we've got a lot of football to play.

"[14] Against Colorado, West Virginia overcame a string of four consecutive fumbles in the first quarter, including one by Brown, to win 35–24.

Head coach Stewart credited Brown and running back Noel Devine with keeping the offense's composure.

[15] Brown was injured early in the Marshall game, and replaced by true freshman quarterback Eugene "Geno" Smith.

[16] Brown suffered a mild concussion from a helmet-to-helmet hit from two defensive backs,[17] but returned for the next game against Connecticut.

[18] Brown completed 19 of 32 passes for 205 yards and one interception in the loss to South Florida, which snapped West Virginia's four-game winning streak.

[20] Offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen attributed a drop-off in Brown's performance from earlier in the season to a string of minor injuries.

[21] Brown scored touchdowns on a three-yard pass and an eight-yard run in a losing 24–21 effort against fifth-ranked Cincinnati.

[22] Late in the game against ninth-ranked Pittsburgh, Brown led a 42-yard drive to set up the game-winning field goal.

[24] West Virginia earned an invitation to the 2010 Gator Bowl, where it faced Florida State, but Brown was replaced by Smith after suffering an ankle injury in the first half.