Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Life as a Mountaineer – Leddie Brown
October 15, 2020 03:00 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia junior running back Leddie Brown says he likes football because it helps him get his anger out on the field.
It's almost as if the late Jim Croce wrote his famous song about Leddie instead of Leroy:
And it's bad, bad (Leddie) Brown
The baddest man in the whole damned town
Badder than old King Kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog
Leddie may run angry, but when he reaches his final destination in the end zone his scowl turns into a bright smile.
And he's been smiling quite a bit lately.
Bad Bad Leddie Brown has reached the end zone a team-best four times already this year, including scoring the game-winning touchdown two weeks ago in West Virginia's impressive 27-21 double-overtime win over Baylor.
His 3-yard game winner was pure Leddie Brown power.
"I wanted the ball 100%," he says. "I was just going to run full speed and I can push them for 3 yards and get this. I'm like, 'We need to win. We need this touchdown.'
"I was speechless. I can honestly say I didn't have any words," he adds.
Brown recalls the first college touchdown he scored as a freshman against Youngstown State in 2018.
It was actually a do over.
"Many people don't know this, but my first touchdown got called back on a holding call by our current center, Chase Behrndt," he says. "After that, he came up to me and he said, 'We are going to get you this touchdown back. I'm sorry, I feel bad.' I was like, 'Chase, that's okay, I know you are going to get it back.' A couple of plays later I actually got my first college touchdown.
"I kind of count my other one as my first college touchdown, because it was longer," he laughs.
This year, his old buddy Behrndt helped brainstorm a new way of motivating Brown to score touchdowns – the belly rub!
Each time Brown scores now, he gets together with the offensive linemen and they wiggle their hips and rub their bellies, generating even more smiles.
"We were talking and I said, 'We need a celebration,'" Leddie says. "They all wanted to make up some sort of handshake and I'm like, 'I just can't go down the line and do handshakes will all five of y'all. It's got to be a whole group thing' and me and Chase were talking and he's like, 'Why don't we just rub our stomachs? Show the fat boys some love.'
"It clicked."
It has clicked, and so is Leddie Brown.
Heading into Saturday's game against Kansas, Brown ranks 17th in the country in rushing, averaging 106.7 yards per game. He's topped more than 100 yards twice already this season, including a career-high 123 yards in the season opener against Eastern Kentucky.
Brown had 104 yards in week two against Oklahoma State, and was just seven yards shy of eclipsing the century mark two weeks ago against Baylor.
He's averaging an impressive 5.1 yards per carry and a significant amount of that is coming after contact, which is where his anger kicks in.
Projecting his current numbers over a 10-game regular season, Brown will finish the year with more than 1,000 yards.
That's what West Virginia fans were expecting from the four-star recruit out of Philadelphia who turned down offers from Florida and North Carolina to play for the Mountaineers.
"Since I got recruited people always said, 'Do what you feel is right and go where you feel most comfortable.' I felt like West Virginia was that place," he says.
Right now, West Virginia fans are sure glad he did!
This week's Life as a Mountaineer was produced by Chris Ostien and is presented each week by our friends at Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration.
It's almost as if the late Jim Croce wrote his famous song about Leddie instead of Leroy:
And it's bad, bad (Leddie) Brown
The baddest man in the whole damned town
Badder than old King Kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog
Leddie may run angry, but when he reaches his final destination in the end zone his scowl turns into a bright smile.
And he's been smiling quite a bit lately.
Bad Bad Leddie Brown has reached the end zone a team-best four times already this year, including scoring the game-winning touchdown two weeks ago in West Virginia's impressive 27-21 double-overtime win over Baylor.
His 3-yard game winner was pure Leddie Brown power.
"I wanted the ball 100%," he says. "I was just going to run full speed and I can push them for 3 yards and get this. I'm like, 'We need to win. We need this touchdown.'
"I was speechless. I can honestly say I didn't have any words," he adds.
Brown recalls the first college touchdown he scored as a freshman against Youngstown State in 2018.
It was actually a do over.
"Many people don't know this, but my first touchdown got called back on a holding call by our current center, Chase Behrndt," he says. "After that, he came up to me and he said, 'We are going to get you this touchdown back. I'm sorry, I feel bad.' I was like, 'Chase, that's okay, I know you are going to get it back.' A couple of plays later I actually got my first college touchdown.
"I kind of count my other one as my first college touchdown, because it was longer," he laughs.
This year, his old buddy Behrndt helped brainstorm a new way of motivating Brown to score touchdowns – the belly rub!
Each time Brown scores now, he gets together with the offensive linemen and they wiggle their hips and rub their bellies, generating even more smiles.
"We were talking and I said, 'We need a celebration,'" Leddie says. "They all wanted to make up some sort of handshake and I'm like, 'I just can't go down the line and do handshakes will all five of y'all. It's got to be a whole group thing' and me and Chase were talking and he's like, 'Why don't we just rub our stomachs? Show the fat boys some love.'
"It clicked."
It has clicked, and so is Leddie Brown.
Heading into Saturday's game against Kansas, Brown ranks 17th in the country in rushing, averaging 106.7 yards per game. He's topped more than 100 yards twice already this season, including a career-high 123 yards in the season opener against Eastern Kentucky.Brown had 104 yards in week two against Oklahoma State, and was just seven yards shy of eclipsing the century mark two weeks ago against Baylor.
He's averaging an impressive 5.1 yards per carry and a significant amount of that is coming after contact, which is where his anger kicks in.
Projecting his current numbers over a 10-game regular season, Brown will finish the year with more than 1,000 yards.
That's what West Virginia fans were expecting from the four-star recruit out of Philadelphia who turned down offers from Florida and North Carolina to play for the Mountaineers.
"Since I got recruited people always said, 'Do what you feel is right and go where you feel most comfortable.' I felt like West Virginia was that place," he says.
Right now, West Virginia fans are sure glad he did!
This week's Life as a Mountaineer was produced by Chris Ostien and is presented each week by our friends at Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration.
Players Mentioned
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