Big things don’t always come out of Brenham, Texas. But then, Malcom Brown is used to making people look again. A product of the small Central Texas town of Brenham, Malcom Brown is a mountain of a young man — standing at 6’2″, 280lbs — who is among the most prized possessions of the Longhorn football’s 2012 recruiting class.
But it’s his foot speed, not just his girth, that allowed Brown to become one of the most hotly recruited Defensive Tackles in the country over the last two years. Strong off the snap, Brown’s quickness gives opposing offensive lineman a different test than they might be used to against most defensive middle-men who generally rely on their strength or weight to occupy blockers up the middle. With Brown, Longhorn fans hope that prominence can be returned to the position for Texas not seen since Shaun Rogers.
It’s no overstatement to suggest that the 2012 recruiting class is vital for the near future of Texas football, as the program looks to rebound from a few difficult seasons of lost expectations. But it was the familial feel of the UT, not just the question of football prestige, that was critical in Malcom Brown’s decision.
”We made the decision together.” Brown told the Austin-American Statesman in January, referring to fellow Brenham product and UT recruit Tim Cole. ”We both felt at home at Texas.”
Brown fancies himself in the mold of Ndamokung Suh, would like to break the Texas sack record, and, like many Longhorns before him and surely after, has faced a litany of criticism for his choice of Texas over Texas A&M from Aggies fans. These things, of course, are all very common characteristics of an athlete; particularly one with high aspirations. But Brown is different in one particular way from many of his football peers, in that he doesn’t follow or invest himself much in sports outside of his own career.
”Outside of football, I really don’t get into football too much. I don’t want to be obsessed with it.” he told ESPN last week.
Interest in football outside of himself or not, Longhorns football fans will be interested in seeing Brown for the next several seasons in burnt orange and white. That intrigue may have to wait another year though, as Brown has been given the option of whether or not to red-shirt. With so much depth up the middle defensively, he may choose to develop his skills for a year on the Texas sidelines.
Either way, it’s an exciting time if you’re a fan of defense. As Malcom Brown enters his first year as a college athlete, he knows much of that excitement is because of him, and is eager to once again have something to prove. For a team looking for play makers, those are the magic words.
