O Bryce Brown, Where Art Thou?

Bryce Brown has been notably silent since the Western Kentucky game, in which he gained over 100 yards (9.5 ypc) on the ground and ended up in the checkerboard endzone once. 

Since then, he’s rushed for 157 yards on 44 carries, an average of 3.6 yards per carry.  Compare that to Montario Hardesty, who is averaging 5.6 yards per carry this season.  So where has Bryce Brown gone?

Here’s three reasons why Bryce Brown hasn’t been as noisy lately:

Number of carries

Now I don’t like excuses about not getting carries and thus not getting to produce, but it’s true in this case.  Bryce Brown has 55 carries this season compared to Montario Hardesty’s 125. 

Now Montario Hardesty has been capitalizing more on his carries and busting some huge gains, but you also have to notice that Bryce Brown is younger.  So more carries means more experience, which will in turn lead to more production. 

This leads me to my next point…

Lack of experience

We have to remember that Bryce Brown is just a freshman.  I know what I’ll hear back on this one: “Well Jamal Lewis was a freshman when he ran for 1,364 yards, and they’ve been comparing Brown to Lewis.” 

Let me say that Jamal Lewis and Bryce Brown are not the same.  People make these comparisons all the time because it excites fans and lets them understand what this player is capable of.  Now we can tell that Bryce Brown is a freshman by how he runs compared to Hardesty. 

Hardesty has learned when to cut back and when to drive, and Brown will learn this as he sees more defenses. 

Another thing to note, Jamal Lewis’s first year was on the 1997 team, which was Peyton Manning’s senior season; talk about having a passing game to set up the run.

He’s the second choice

Montario Hardesty always gets the first shot at the defense (and rightfully so!), so when he begins to tire and Brown comes in, the defense is beginning to figure out Tennessee’s schemes. 

Brown seems to always run into a big pile of the wrong team, and that’s partially because the defense is starting to creep in.  With Tennessee’s lack of passing game in the games before Georgia, it was always a given that Tennessee was probably going to be running the ball. 

Now, with the passing game standing up on its own legs for once, the play action threat may back linebackers off and allow him to get some room to run.

I’m not in disbelief over his lack of serious production like I’ve heard Vol fans express on some of the call-in shows, but I will say he needs to do better.  He will begin to do better as the season goes on, and the experience he gains this year will be valuable when he’s the primary back next season. 

I don’t see any reason to worry, though, because he has shown that he can get it done when he needs to.  I’m excited to see how he develops behind the orange jerseys of the big guys up front. 

With Lane Kiffin’s focus on the running game, we’re going to see a lot more of Bryce Brown in the future.