Texas Football: Ranking the 5 best running backs since 2000

As potentially the top running back ever recruited out of the state of Texas for high school football, Malcolm Brown was a celebrity from the moment he arrived on campus for the Horns. Brown had his ups and down in his four seasons for Texas, but was a valuable contributor over that span of time nonetheless.

The main issue for Brown was not the overall workload, but his efficiency given so many carries. Brown even had one year where he averaged less than 4.0 yards per carry. The 2014 numbers for Brown did see a pretty massive dip compared to the year before. That could have resulted from numerous factors including a change in the coaching regime.

Mack Brown departed from the Forty Acres following the 2013 campaign, which gave way to Charlie Strong coming over from the Louisville Cardinals. With that, the Texas offensive line struggled a bit in Strong’s first season. Brown suffered as a result and saw his rushing yards, receiving yards, touchdowns, and yards per carry all drop.

However, there’s no denying the raw talent that Brown brought to the table for the Horns. He was originally a top 15 recruit in the nation and had a great combination of size, speed, and elusiveness to his skill set. It’s too bad the ups and downs of Texas while he was in Austin caused some weird seasons during his tenure in the backfield.