#peacelovechubb

RALEIGH, N.C. - Last Saturday, Wolfpack starting defensive end Bradley Chubb was sitting in the stands at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, surrounded by people wearing black and gold, cheering for a Wake Forest victory.

This Saturday, he'll be giving every thing he has to ensure that the Demon Deacons suffer a bitter defeat.

"Actually I wasn't pulling for Wake Forest," Bradley explains. "I was pulling for Brandon Chubb."

Brandon Chubb is Wake Forest's leading tackler and the older brother of the Wolfpack's sophomore defensive end. He's the linebacker, the self-described "laid back" brother – the true elder statesman. Bradley is the outgoing one, the comedian, the trash talker. One wears Black & Gold. One wears Red & White. On Saturday, for the second and last time in their collegiate careers, they will play in the same game.

30-40 friends and family members will be scattered throughout BB&T Field on Saturday, when NC State takes on Wake Forest in a noon contest. When Wake Forest is on offense, don't be surprised if some folks in the Deacons' family seats are cheering loudly for the Wolfpack. When the situation is reversed, there will likely be some folks sitting in the State section who are pulling their hearts out for Wake Forest.

And all of them will be wearing t-shirts that display the logos of both schools, a #48 for Brandon, a #49 for Bradley and the hashtag: #peacelovechubb.

"This is the most anticipated game on my schedule this season," said Brandon. "Even your teammates react to it, because something like this doesn't happen too often: brothers in the same conference, in the same division, playing on the same side of the ball. It's just a blessing for both of us to be playing at such a high level."

Football was definitely in the DNA for the Chubb brothers. Their father, Aaron, played defensive end at Georgia in the mid 80s and was drafted by the Patriots following his collegiate career.

Even stronger than the football gene, however, was the competitive gene. Despite the three-year age difference, anything and everything was a competition between the Chubb brothers - basketball in the driveway, little league baseball, video games.

"We competed at anything. Who could eat the fastest, who could drink the most Gatorade. We used to go at it," Brandon laughs while Bradley nods in agreement.

"No matter what the outcome was, it would usually end up being a fight with one of us mad so my parents would have to get involved. Someone would storm in the house and throw a temper tantrum or somebody would get hurt in wrestling and start bleeding or someone would throw the controller in the video game. They might have liked the competition, but they didn't like the outcome."

That competitive nature helped Brandon thrive on the football field and then in turn, Bradley, who followed in his older brother's footsteps at Hillgrove High School in Georgia.

"Coming out of high school the Chubb name was strong," Bradley recalls. "Brandon did a lot of things in high school. I just wanted to live up to what he did. Going to his games every weekend and watching him play I was like, 'I want to do that too.' He pushed me towards that goal. "

One summer when Brandon was home from college, he noticed something different about his little brother. "The way our house is set up, I have to walk past his room to go to our bathroom and the summer going into his senior year, every time I walked by it seemed like he had grown an inch. It was like that for the whole three months. "

Both brothers agree that Bradley has Brandon by four inches, and he never resisted the chance to rub it in his older brother's face. "He would love to stand next to me when I was brushing my teeth just to make sure I noticed that he was taller," Brandon laughs.

With both brothers in the midst of their seasons, it would seem that it would be difficult for them to ever see each other play. But with today's technology, that's not the case. Two weeks ago, when the Wolfpack played at Virginia Tech on a Friday night, the Deacons were on the road preparing for a game at Boston College.

"We were in the hotel so I was excited to watch it and I told all my teammates to watch it," Brandon says. "But even when we play at the same time, I go back and watch his games after the game. I've watched every game he's played in. If I don't get to watch it live, I go in our film room and after I watch the team we're playing that week, I watch his game. I watch every defensive play he was in and see what he did."

Not only do the brothers watch each other's play, they critique it. "Yeah, I give him feedback," Brandon says. "My feedback is probably more critical than anybody else's just because he's my brother and I want the best for him. I try to give him constructive criticism but I know sometimes it comes out to be a little harsher that what he expected. I hold him to a high standard and it's not going to get him better if I pat him on the back. I don't want complacency to happen. "

"I do the same to him," Bradley adds. "I was watching one game and I kept texting him: 'you've got to shed him.' Another game, I was talking to him about his third down pass rush."

Bradley says he has had Oct. 24 circled on their schedules for months. "I know coaches say don't look forward to one certain game and to just play one game at a time, but getting the schedule and seeing that game was a couple of days after his birthday, I was like 'I'm going to try to give him a bad birthday present!' … out of love though!

"I really look up to him in everything I've ever done," Bradley continues. "So the fact that I'm playing against one of my biggest idols is surreal."

When asked what advice they have for each other for this week's game, neither brother hesitates. "Wrap up," says Brandon. "Pass rush," says Bradley.

Both look forward to that moment when the game is over and they shake hands at midfield. "Just to see your brother with the ACC logo on his jersey," says Brandon, "it's something you can't really know how it's going to feel until it actually happens. And then it's a great feeling."

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