Brown Offers Proof Positive Cougars Running Back Has Taken Scenic Route From Mississippi To Pullman

Four days into the program, Kevin Brown, all decked out in his third uniform in as many years, was talking about proving himself.

“That’s what I gotta do,” the junior college running back said at Washington State’s media day. “Just go out there and show them I can play.

“Prove to them that I belong here.”

“Well, Kevin when do you think that might happen?” he was asked.

“When’s the first scrimmage?” he answered.

More than 196 all-purpose yards per game and a California Community College Football Coaches Association offensive player of the year award tends to make one confident.

Turns out Division I players aren’t that impressed with JUCO stats. That first scrimmage? Let’s allow Brown to sum it up.

“Ugly. Just ugly.”

Ten yards of ugly on five not-sopretty runs.

But this 6-foot-2, 220-pound runner is one of those stubborn types. When he says he’s going to do something, he’s going to do it; whether it’s proving himself to his new Cougars teammates or making it onto a college football field.

Just to accomplish the latter, he had to sit an entire year on America’s dusty plains. Tumbleweeds gained more yards than Brown did at Hutchinson Junior College in Kansas.

He went there from West Covina, Calif., thinking this was his chance to make it to Division I. He got there and found out the coach he wanted to play for was no longer at the school.

“So, I didn’t play.”

Now, that’s stubborn. Just sitting out and waiting while a year and a team pass you by.

But he had a plan. Brown, a Mississippi native who was making a habit of moving across the country, packed his bags and headed to San Franscisco City College.

His stubbornness paid off with 20 touchdowns in 10 games and a scholarship to WSU.

A week into practice with the Cougars, that stubborn streak was showing up again. After all, Brown said he was going to prove himself and by the team’s second scrimmage he was doing just that.

By the time the dust had settled and the yards were totalled, Brown had 75 on nine carries and two touchdowns.

“He started to make some people miss and ran over some others,” said WSU coach Mike Price. “He’s moving up the depth chart rapidly.”

When the horn sounded to start the third scrimmage, Brown was the No. 2 running back behind DeJuan Gilmore. He responded with 41 yards on six carries and another touchdown.

“It took me a while to learn the offense and get into it,” he said. “Not knowing what I was doing I couldn’t really go full speed.

“But then once I learned everything I was able to just play like I know how.”

“The kid’s got loads of talent, but we wanted to start him slow and bring him along,” said running back coach Kasey Dunn. “The last thing we wanted to do was throw him into the frying pan and make him lose confidence.

“We also wanted to get him in shape before we started giving him a bunch of rep and now he’s getting more and responding.”

Brown’s running even has Price pulling out his old promise of running a two-back offense.

“I say it every year, but this year I really think it’s something we could do and be successful at.”

“I promise we’ll see some two back, but I don’t know if we’ll have a steady diet of it because it’s just not what we do offensively,” Dunn added. “We need to do it because those are definitely our quality players.”

The two-back set would be a picture of contrast with the 6-2 Brown and the 5-8 Gilmore getting most of the action. Since the team has been running the set during practice and scrimmages, Gilmore and Brown have become familiar with both positions in the offense.

“They know what to do out there,” said Dunn, “and are versatile.”

Behind the duo are six other backs who could see action including 6-1, 224-pound Jeremy Thielbahr, a red-shirt freshman who searches for someone to hit every time he’s on the field.

“We’ve never had somebody like Thielbahr before,” said offensive lineman Rob Rainville. “We’ve just always had kind of the shifty running guys.

“The coaches are doing a really good job of using all of our ability back there and using as many people as we can.”

“We’ve got guys who can play all over the place,” agreed Dunn.

Of course, there’s just one place Brown wants to be.

“I don’t care what we run. I just want to get the ball and whether I have to run over people or not I’m going to score touchdowns,” Brown said.