The University of Illinois isn’t expecting any attendance issues on Saturday, perhaps thanks to the Newton family.

The St. Petersburg, Fla.-based bunch will have an entire section of Memorial Stadium to themselves as 68 friends and family including past football coaches will be in Champaign, Ill., for the first (and probably only) Newton Bowl, featuring Toledo wide receiver Jerjuan Newton and younger brother Illinois All-American defensive tackle Jer’Zhan “Johnny” Newton.

“Man, I’m super excited,” said father Jervon Newton, Sr. “They’ve played together all their lives. This is the first time they’ve ever been on opposite sides. To see it as this level is so exciting.”

Jervon Sr., will wear a custom-made half Toledo, half Illinois jersey. Mom Jovita Rich has a T-shirt emblazoned with her sons’ pictures.

David Briggs

Briggs: Toledo football has big dreams and a 'very big' opportunity at Illinois

“I’ve already warned Johnny that he better not hit his brother,” Rich said. “I told him he can tap him, but no big hits.”

While mom says Johnny will be scolded for decleating his brother, dad is taking the opposite approach.

“Listen, that’s the game of football,” Jervon said. “That’s how the game goes. Johnny told me if he gets a chance to hit him, he’s going to hit him.”

The brothers, older twins Jervon Jr., and Jerquan, each of whom played at Division II Mars Hills University in North Carolina, and high school senior Jershaun, a three-star athlete, are all accomplished players. All the teams and all the games have made planning difficult on Jervon Sr., and Rich, who lays an oversized calendar on her desk as soon as the schedules come out.

This will be the first time any Newtons are on opposing teams.

“Emotions are pretty high,” said Johnny, who’s projected to be a first-round draft pick. “It’s pretty cool. A lot of people don’t get the chance to play against their brother. I’m ready to play, so I can hit him.”

The five brothers talk or text almost daily. Football was a constant growing up. Sometimes it would devolve into a physical fight. But they always dusted themselves off and shook hands.

Kyle Rowland

Analysis: Toledo football game-by-game predictions for 2023

Jovita said Jerjuan and Johnny are her second set of twins because of how close they are. Growing up, with only a one-year age gap, the brothers did everything together. Despite the distance, they still visit each other during off weeks and hang out during the summer.

“There’s been a lot leading up to [this game] since last year,” Jerjuan said. “I’m really looking forward to it. Whoever wins will have bragging rights for the holidays.”

Even though Johnny is a hulking 6-foot-2, 295-pound defensive tackle, he views his more diminutive brother — a 5-foot-11, 192-pound wide receiver — as one of his biggest inspirations and an example of what an industrious devotion to improvement can produce.

“He’s probably the hardest working person I know to this day,” Johnny said. “He’s always out-working everybody. Some days I would wake up and not want to work out, but he would go work out so I didn’t want to be that brother who stayed home.”

All the brotherly love doesn’t mean trash talk is nonexistent. Quite the contrary, actually. Jerjuan and Johnny have gone after each other all summer on a family text thread. Last weekend, Johnny told Jerjuan he was officially the enemy.

“He calls me at least once a week telling me that they’re going to beat us,” Jerjuan said. “I’m like, ‘Alright, bro. We’ll see.’”

There have been high-profile brother vs. brother matchups in the past, most recently in the Super Bowl between Jason (Eagles) and Travis (Chiefs) Kelce. In the 2017 national championship game, Calvin (Alabama) and Riley (Georgia) Ridley squared off. Last season, brothers Arthur Kaluma (Creighton) and Adam Seiko (San Diego State) played against each other in the Elite Eight.

“It’s a special day for [Jerjuan], a special day for Johnny, and a special day for that family,” Toledo coach Jason Candle said. “It’s a family that’s put a lot of time and energy into football and a crew of parents that really try to make it work and be at everything. It’ll be a cool moment for them to all be in one place.”

What happens if in the final minutes Toledo has the football for the potential game-winning touchdown?

Jerjuan and Johnny would both be on the field in the decisive moments as a throng of supporters is left to awkwardly choose a side.

“I don’t want to show any favoritism,” said Rich, who joked with her boys that she wanted tickets from both of them so she could sit on the Illinois side for half of the game and the Toledo side during the other half.

“We understand that one of them has to win and one of them has to lose,” Jervon said. “It’s a proud moment for me as a father. I’ve dreamed of this day. There are a lot of emotions behind this game.”

First Published August 29, 2023, 5:07 p.m.