Malcolm Brown- The Next Adrian

Malcolm Brown

If you haven't seen the highlight film on this kid, check it out. Seriously. There should be no doubt as to what kind of impact this kid will have on Saturdays. It is more a question of who has the honor of his services.

Which brings me to a key point. Lately, recruitniks have all but pegged Malcolm as a Texas commit. Frankly, that is absolutely LUDICROUS (and not the good kind). In fact, of anyone on his offer list, the Sooners have the best chance to grab him. Here are the reasons why:

Disclaimer: The arguments in the article consider Texas and Oklahoma as the leaders in his recruitment. Sorry Alabama, but there is zero chance of someone this highly regarded and from the heart of Texas (Cibolo) not playing for the Big 12.

Numero Uno: Texas has shown it basically forgot how to run the ball since Jamall Charles.

Leading rushers from this past year:

Texas:

Tre Newton: 552 Yards (Colt McCoy is the next leading rusher)

Colt McCoy: 348 Yards

Oklahoma: (mind you, with an atrocious OL)

Chris Brown: 749 Yards

DeMarco Murray: 705 Yards

Leading Rushers from 2008:

Texas:

Colt McCoy (yes, their quarterback had more yards than their current leading rusher): 561 Yards

Vontrell McGee: 376 Yards

Oklahoma:

Chris Brown: 1220 Yards

DeMarco Murray: 1002 yards (missed Big 12 Championship and National Championship)

Numero 2: Running Prowess

Texas: Over the past two years, Texas has run by committee. What I mean by this is not that they have a couple of feature backs, but rather, they switch feature backs on a monthly basis. If the running game isn’t working immediately, they have had a short history of dumping that running back down the depth chart and trying another one instead of actually working with the running back. I would actually be surprised if people outside of the Big 12 knew the names of any of the Texas running backs.

Oklahoma: Oklahoma takes pride in having a great running game with 1 to 2 feature backs. In hard situations, they will often trust their running game despite past success or failure. You would be hard pressed to find a team with as much success and publicity in their running backs over the past 5 years.

Alabama: For those Alabama fans still reading, yes, your running back just won the Heisman, but have you had two running backs rush 1000 yards in a season? No. Have you had 1000 yard rushers a majority of the seasons? Look at 2006 and 2007.

Numero 3: Malcolm Brown has been pegged as the next Adrian Peterson

I’ve forgotten, who did Adrian Peterson play for? Did he play for Texas? No? Alabama? No? Oh, that’s right, he played for Oklahoma, where he found fame, fortune, and wide regard as one of the top running backs even in the NFL. Why would Adrian Peterson, cough, Malcolm Brown go anywhere else? Speaking of fame and fortune…

Number 4: Did anyone else catch the draft?

Yea, enough said. If you have the talent to go to the NFL (like 5-star recruit Adrian Peterson or 5-Star Gerald McCoy) or even just the desire (3-star Sam Bradford = Number 1 draft pick), then Bob Stoops can send you there gift-wrapped, rich, and a better player than when you came in. There is just no debate about this point. 4 first rounders?! 3 in the first four picks?! Unreal.

Numero 5: Recruitment talent

I have never seen a team do less with more than Texas at running back in recent years. We are talking about 4 star talents, who run the EXACT same way as they did in high school, do not show much improvement if any, have seen little to no playing time, and have been so wasted I can’t believe no one else has said this. Texas wastes running backs. Oklahoma on the other hand, will give their recruits every chance to succeed they can. Chris Brown, who I consider a good talent despite being overshadowed by Demarco Murray, was given the rock time and time again. He is in the NFL right now, not because of the talent he had originally, but the faith and training Oklahoma instilled in him. I don’t need to flash any statistics here, because anyone who has watched the two running games can plainly see there are vast levels of difference between the two. Oklahoma simply has the desire and the better running game right now. No doubt about it.

In conclusion:

Malcolm Brown has all the tools to be the next big thing. But the place that can guarantee him greatness, improvement, and a family is Oklahoma. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind where the smart choice to go for Malcolm is. I’m just surprised it took an untrained observer such as me to say it out loud.

Much love,

Eli