Donald Brown (American football)

Donald Brown (American football)
Not to be confused with Don Brown (American football coach), the current defensive coordinator of the Connecticut Huskies, or Don Brown (American football player), who played in the American Football League in the 1960s.
Donald Brown

Donald Brown signing autographs at the 2010 UConn spring game at Rentschler Field.
No. 31     Indianapolis Colts
Running back
Personal information
Date of birth: April 11, 1987 (1987-04-11) (age 24)
Place of birth: Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey
Height: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Weight: 210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
College: Connecticut
NFL Draft: 2009 / Round: 1 / Pick: 27
Debuted in 2009 for the Indianapolis Colts
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
  • 2009 International Bowl MVP
  • 2008 College Football All-American
  • 2008 First team All Big East
  • 2008 Big East Offensive Player of the Year
  • 2006 Second team All Big East
Career NFL statistics as of Week 8, 2011
Rushing yards     931
Rushing average     3.9
Total TDs     7
Receptions     34
Receiving yards     391
Stats at NFL.com

Donald Eugene Brown II (born April 11, 1987, in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey) is an American football running back for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. He was the starting running back for the University of Connecticut Huskies from 2006 to 2008.

Contents

High school career

Brown attended Red Bank Catholic High School in Red Bank, New Jersey. During his senior year, Brown rushed for 2,032 yards and 27 touchdowns. Considered a three-star recruit by Rivals.com, Brown was listed as the No. 53 running back prospect in the nation in 2005.[1] He picked Connecticut over Wisconsin on December 8, 2004.

College career

Brown signed a national letter of intent to enroll at UConn on February 2, 2005. He would conclude his collegiate career as the all-time leading rusher for Connecticut with 3,800 yards. After rushing for over 2,000 yards in his junior year, Brown decided to forgo his senior year to enter the 2009 NFL Draft.

2006 season

Brown entered his redshirt freshman season in 2006 as a kickoff returner and second string running back behind senior captain and incumbent starter, Terry Caulley. Brown showed flashes of his running ability in the first game of the year, when he rushed for 118 yards on only 9 carries, including a 53 yard touchdown run, against Rhode Island. He would play primarily on special teams for the first half of the year. However, when Caulley went down with an injury before Connecticut's game against Rutgers on October 29, Brown was asked to make his first career start at running back. He made the most of this opportunity, as he rushed for 199 yards on 28 carries and 2 touchdowns. This performance proved to be too good to ignore, as he was awarded the starting job for the rest of the season. Brown had his best outing of his freshman campaign in the next game when he rushed for 205 yards on 43 carries with 3 touchdowns (1 receiving) in Connecticut's 46-45 double overtime win over Pittsburgh. Brown would average 134 yards per game in the five Big East games that he started. He finished the year with 896 yards and 9 touchdowns (2 receiving), which was good enough to award him with a 2nd team All Big East nomination.[2]

2007 season

Brown began his sophomore season with heightened expectations brought on by his very successful rookie campaign. However, nagging injuries combined with the emergence of fellow sophomore Andre Dixon would hamper his sophomore season. He would finish the year with 821 yards and 8 touchdowns, which was good for second on the team, behind Dixon. Twice, Brown ran for 100 yards in a game (against Rutgers and West Virginia) and just missed two more by rushing for 99 yards against Duke and Syracuse.

2008 season

A pre-season ankle injury to Dixon would cement Brown as the Huskies starting running back for the start of his junior season. It would be a position that he would not relinquish. Brown would begin the year with eight straight 100 yard games and would twice eclipse the 200 yard mark (against Temple and Virginia). He arguably had his best performance in the second game of the year as he rushed for 214 yards on 36 carries and the game's only touchdown against Temple, in a game played in a monsoon due to Tropical Storm Hannah.[3] Included in his 214 yards was every one of Connecticut's 25 yards in overtime.

Brown rushed for 150 yards in the eighth game of the season at home in a 40-16 Connecticut victory over eventual Big East champion Cincinnati. These 150 yards increased his season total to 1,324, which set a new Connecticut single-season record.[4] The old tally of 1,262 had been set by Tory Taylor in 1995. Brown needed only eight games to break Taylor's record. Brown continued his record breaking season in the tenth game at Syracuse. In that game, he rushed for 131 yards on 31 attempts. A 49-yard touchdown run in the second quarter would allow Brown to surpass Caulley as Connecticut's all time leading rusher.[5]

Brown would finish the regular season with 1,822 yards, which placed him first for rushing in the NCAA Division I FBS. His performance awarded him the Big East Offensive Player of the Year.[6]

On January 3, 2009, Brown was named Player of the Game in UConn's 38-20 victory over the University at Buffalo in the 2009 International Bowl in Toronto. He finished the game with 261 yards rushing (208 in the first half) and a touchdown. He finished the season with 2,083 rushing yards, becoming only the 14th player in FBS history to rush for over 2,000 yards in a single season.[7] On January 8, 2009, Brown was named Eastern College Athletic Conference Player of the Year.[8]

Following the International Bowl, Brown announced his intention to enter the 2009 NFL Draft.[9]

Statistics

Year Rush Att Rush Yds Rush Avg Rush TD Rec Att Rec Yds Rec Avg Rec TD
2005 Redshirted
2006 161 896 5.6 7 13 66 5.1 2
2007 170 821 4.8 8 14 85 6.1 0
2008 367 2,083 5.7 18 21 125 6.0 0
Career 698 3,800 5.4 33 48 276 5.8 2

Professional career

2009 NFL Draft

Brown was considered one of the top three running back prospects available in the draft (alongside Knowshon Moreno and Chris Wells) and drew comparisons to Willie Parker.[10][11][12] He was drafted with the 27th pick in the 2009 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. Brown became the first Connecticut Husky ever to be picked in the first round of an NFL Draft.[13]

Pre-draft measureables
Ht Wt Arm length Hand size 40-yd dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert Broad BP
5 ft 10 in 210 lb 31½ in 9 in 4.51 s 4.10 s 6.93 s 41½ in 10 ft 5 in
All results from NFL Combine[14]

Indianapolis Colts

At a game in Denver in September, 2010.

Brown signed a five-year contract with the Indianapolis Colts on August 2, 2009.[15] In his first action as a member of the team, Brown ran for 58 yards on five carries against the Minnesota Vikings in the first week of the preseason.[16]

He scored his first touchdown on September 21, 2009 against the Miami Dolphins in a 27-23 Colts win. On December 19, 2010, Donald recorded his first 100+ yard game in a 34-24 win against the Jaguars.

References

  1. ^ "Rivals.com Running backs 2005". Rivals.com. January 22, 2005. http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?ra_key=872. 
  2. ^ Big East Announces 2006 Postseason Football Awards
  3. ^ ESPN - Brown key as UConn stops Temple in overtime
  4. ^ UConnHuskies.com Game Recap
  5. ^ UConnHuskies.com Game recap
  6. ^ Big East Announces 2008 Postseason Football Honors
  7. ^ Brown rushes for 261 yards as Huskies win International Bowl SportsLine.com, January 3, 2009
  8. ^ "Donald Brown Named ECAC Player of the Year". UConn. 2009-01-08. http://www.uconnhuskies.com/AllStories/MFootball/2009/01/08/20090108.html. Retrieved 2009-01-08. [dead link]
  9. ^ UConn Takes International Bowl's Brown to the NFL SI.com, January 3, 2009
  10. ^ Pompei, Dan (April 12, 2009). "2009 NFL Draft: Dan Pompei's top running backs". Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/chi-12-nfl-draft-running-backs,0,5208805.story. 
  11. ^ Lande, Russ (April 24, 2009). "2009 NFL Draft: Best of the running backs". The Sporting News. http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/article/2009-04-24/2009-nfl-draft-best-running-backs. 
  12. ^ "Pro Football War Room: Donald Brown". SportingNews.com. April 25, 2009. http://warroom.sportingnews.com/nfl/draft/2009/players/8936.html. 
  13. ^ "Donald Brown Goes in NFL Draft First Round". UConnHuskies.com. April 25, 2009. http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/042509aaa.html. 
  14. ^ "NFL Events: Combine Top Performers". NFL.com. http://www.nfl.com/combine/top-performers. 
  15. ^ "After Signing, UConn's Donald Brown Hits Practice Field". Hartford Courant. August 3, 2009. http://www.courant.com/sports/football/hc-nflup0803.artaug03,0,4998203.story. 
  16. ^ Donald Brown Will Be a Big Part of Indy's Offense

External links

v · d · e2009 NFL Draft First Round Selections
Matthew Stafford · Jason Smith · Tyson Jackson · Aaron Curry · Mark Sanchez · Andre Smith · Darrius Heyward-Bey · Eugene Monroe · B. J. Raji · Michael Crabtree · Aaron Maybin · Knowshon Moreno · Brian Orakpo · Malcolm Jenkins · Brian Cushing · Larry English · Josh Freeman · Robert Ayers · Jeremy Maclin · Brandon Pettigrew · Alex Mack · Percy Harvin · Michael Oher · Peria Jerry · Vontae Davis · Clay Matthews III · Donald Brown · Eric Wood · Hakeem Nicks · Kenny Britt · Beanie Wells · Evander Hood

Draft years

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v · d · eBaltimore / Indianapolis Colts first-round draft picks
Vessels • Davidson • Shaw • Ameche • Moore • Parker • Lyles • Burkett • Mix • Matte • Harris • Vogel • Woodson • Curtis • Ball • Smith • Detwiler • Williams • Hinton • Bulaich • McCauley • Dunlap • Drougas • Jones • Ehrmann • Dutton • Carr • Huff • Novak • Burke • McCall • Krauss • Dickey • Hatchett • McMillan • Thompson • Cooks • Schlichter • Elway • Coleman • Solt • Bickett • Hand • Bennett • Rison • George • Emtman • Coryatt • Dawkins • Faulk • Alberts • Ellis Johnson • Harrison • Glenn • Manning • James • Morris • Wayne • Freeney • Clark • Jackson • Addai • Gonzalez • Brown • Hughes • Castonzo

AFC East: BUF  · MIA  · NE  · NYJ • North: BAL  · CIN  · CLE  · PIT • South: HOU  · IND  · JAC  · TEN • West: DEN  · KC  · OAK  · SD

NFC East: DAL  · NYG  · PHI  · WAS • North: CHI  · DET  · GB  · MIN • South: ATL  · CAR  · NO  · TB • West: ARI  · STL  · SF  · SEA
v · Fili Moala • Jerraud Powers • Austin Collie • Terrance Taylor • Curtis Painter • Pat McAfee • Jaimie Thomas
v · d · eIndianapolis Colts current roster
Active roster

1 Pat McAfee | 4 Adam Vinatieri | 6 Dan Orlovsky | 7 Curtis Painter | 11 Anthony Gonzalez | 15 Blair White | 17 Austin Collie | 18 Peyton Manning | 21 Kevin Thomas | 23 Terrence Johnson | 25 Jerraud Powers | 26 Morgan Trent | 27 Jacob Lacey | 28 Stevie Brown | 29 Joseph Addai | 30 David Caldwell | 31 Donald Brown | 34 Delone Carter | 35 Joe Lefeged | 36 Chris Rucker | 41 Antoine Bethea | 44 Dallas Clark | 48 Justin Snow | 50 Philip Wheeler | 51 Pat Angerer | 52 A. J. Edds | 53 Kavell Conner | 55 Ernie Sims | 57 Adrian Moten | 61 Jamey Richard | 63 Jeff Saturday | 67 Mike Tepper | 69 Quinn Ojinnaka | 71 Ryan Diem | 72 Jeff Linkenbach | 74 Anthony Castonzo | 76 Joe Reitz | 78 Mike Pollak | 80 Mike McNeill | 81 Brody Eldridge | 83 Anthony Hill | 84 Jacob Tamme | 85 Pierre Garçon | 87 Reggie Wayne | 90 Jamaal Anderson | 91 Ricardo Mathews | 92 Jerry Hughes | 93 Dwight Freeney | 94 Drake Nevis | 95 Fili Moala | 96 Tyler Brayton | 98 Robert Mathis | 99 Antonio Johnson
Reserve lists

5 Kerry Collins (IR) | 33 Melvin Bullitt (IR) | 49 Chris Gronkowski (IR) | 58 Gary Brackett (IR) | 68 Eric Foster (IR) | 73 Seth Olsen (IR) | 79 Ben Ijalana (IR) | -- Jaimie Thomas (IR) | -- James Williams (IR)
Practice squad

8 Dan LeFevour | 10 Jeremy Ross | 20 Mike Holmes | 32 Darren Evans | 60 Matt Murphy | 64 Ollie Ogbu | 86 Dedrick Epps | -- Fui Vakapuna
AFC East: BUF · MIA · NE · NYJ • North: BAL · CIN · CLE · Persondata
Name Brown, Donald
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth April 11, 1987
Place of birth Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey
Date of death
Place of death

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