Auburn RB Brown
no longer overshadowed
Teammate Williams has one
fewer 100-yard rushing game
 Rogelio Solis / AP Auburn running back Ronnie Brown is the Southeastern Conference’s No. 7 rusher with 689 yards in eight games and the team’s No. 2 receiver with 18 catches for 176 yards. |
AUBURN, Ala. - It could have been Ronnie Brown’s breakaway run, a chance to step out of Carnell Williams’ shadow at Auburn and head to the NFL.
Instead, he decided to stick around for his senior season, surprising even some of his friends.
“At first, a lot of people were like, ’What are you doing?”’ the Tigers tailback recalls with a smile.
Turns out he was doing the right thing. Brown has been an integral part of No. 3 Auburn’s impressive surge into the national championship hunt with a 9-0 start, turning heads with his remarkable versatility for a 230-pound running back.
Here’s three surefire ways to emerge from the more heralded Williams’ shadow: Run, block, catch.
Yep, Brown.
“We’ve always known how good Ronnie is,” center Jeremy Ingle said. “He’s one of the best backs in the country — top three, in my opinion. He’s the total package, he really is.”
Brown and Williams both were projected as likely second-round draft picks after last season, and Brown already had his degree in communication. He came back anyway, and his stock almost certainly has gone up.
“Ronnie Brown loves college football,” Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. “Both of these guys just wanted to come back and enjoy themselves and have a fun year. Both of them related to me, ’It’s not time for me to be ’Ronnie Brown Inc.’ or ’Carnell Williams Inc.’
“They wanted to come back and enjoy college life and maybe improve on what they were doing and maybe improve next year for the NFL draft.”
Williams has been superb, too, running for 862 yards, fourth in the league. But Brown’s 7.3 yards per carry ranks first among the SEC’s top 10 runners, and he has four 100-yard games compared to three for Williams.
The pair have lined up in the backfield together at times and even at receiver. Each could rush for 1,000 yards this season.
Plus, the Tigers have clinched a spot in the SEC championship game. They have an open date this weekend, before games against top rivals Georgia and Alabama.
“This is some of the stuff that you’re dreaming about,” Brown said. “I really didn’t expect all of this when I decided to come back, but it’s been great.”
Last year he tied for second on the team in rushing with junior college transfer Brandon Jacobs, who transferred again after the season.
Yet he was still well regarded by NFL scouts and personnel officials, who indicated he could go as high as the second round. Again the voices: “Things didn’t go so good for you last year. What makes you think they’re going to get better?” Brown said friends asked him.
He’s never known exactly what to expect before a season.
In 2000, an injury forced him to redshirt after playing sparingly in three games behind SEC player of the year Rudi Johnson.
Johnson left early for the NFL but Auburn signed Williams, Alabama’s Mr. Football and one of the nation’s top tailback prospects. Brown opened the next season as the starter, but soon was replaced by Williams.
In 2002, Brown replaced an injured Williams midway through the season and wound up with 1,008 yards, including 184 against Penn State in a bowl game.
“It’s been kind of weird,” said Brown, who has had an assortment of injuries. “Most of the time you come in and play and then things just kind of go up. But I had to face a little adversity from time to time. I kind of appreciate those times, just looking where I’m at now and the situation I’m in now. It’s kind of paid off.”
Running backs coach Eddie Gran would have understood if Brown had shown up in his office griping about lack of carries, but says it didn’t happen.
“He’s never been in my office (complaining) one time,” Gran said. “If anybody had a gripe, it would have been him. He could have come to my office and said, ’Coach, why am I not getting carries? What’s the deal here?’
“Never. Not one time. In our society, that doesn’t happen very often.”
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