By Myra Bean

There is a lot of talk going on this weekend about the Ole Miss/Texas game, but nothing turns up the heat like a little home flavor.

Texas sophomore running back Malcolm Brown has not lived in Panola County, his family has a long storied history. His father, Tommy “Doc” Brown, is a former South Panola running back, who graduated in 1982.

Also, Malcolm’s brother, Keith, is a graduate of Ole Miss.

According to Doc, Malcolm knows a little about Ole Miss, but he knows a lot about South Panola.

“He knows that is where I am from,” Doc said. “I don’t know if he thinks a lot about it.”

Malcolm has made a name for himself with the Longhorns (2-0). He played as a freshman with seven starts and got hurt in the middle of the season. Brown was out for three games and was limited in the rest of them, according to his father.

Brown, 6’0”, 223-pounds, has four career 100-yard rushing games and needs 148 rushing yards to become the 47th back in school history to reach 1,000 in his career. He is getting more and more looks as he was selected to the 2012 Maxwell Award watch list; tabbed 2012 preseason first-team All-Big 12 by Athlon, Lindy’s and Phil Steele magazines; named second-team Freshman All-America by Yahoo! Sports; named the 2011 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year (AP, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram) and the Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year (Kansas City Star).

Brown is one of 13 Texas freshmen to rush for over 500 yards in a season and ranks seventh on the single season rushing yards (742) list for freshmen and tied for ninth for rushing touchdowns (5). He has three career 100-yard rushing performances, tied for third most by Longhorn freshmen, was on the College Football Performance Awards National Freshman Performer of the Year watch list.

This season he has played in both games as running back where he rushed for 105 yards on 15 carries against Wyoming in the season opener September 1. He had a career long 31-yard run, marking the second time he and teammate Joe Bergeron (110) both rushed for more than 100 yards in the same game.  Despite being on the field for 22 offensive snaps last week against New Mexico, he had just two carries in the 45-0 win.

This is an exciting time for the Brown family, according to Doc.

“A lot of friends and family know Malcolm is coming there to play,” he said. “Man, it’s real exciting.”

Doc expects to have at least 15 family members with him and his wife at the game Saturday.

This is a good opportunity for the family to see Malcolm play because it is tough for some to get to Texas.

Doc said the atmosphere in Texas was electrifying which is evidenced by the early arrival of Texas fans that have been reported in Oxford.

“Malcolm said the team is pretty excited to get to play a team out of that power conference,” Doc said. “Ole Miss may be the toughest opponent they play before the conference. This will be a good measuring stick for where they want to be.”

Not only is it exciting for the team, but Doc said for him as a parent it is extremely exciting to see his son playing this level of football.

“I may not always show it, but I am bubbling up inside to have him out there playing big time ball,” Doc said. “I realize now that I didn’t have the desire to play like Malcolm. To see him get the attention he is getting is very exciting.

“We know his gift comes from God,” Doc continued. “We try to give God praise every chance we get.”
Brown also mentioned Donald Hawkins plays offensive line for the Longhorns. Hawkins is originally from Tunica and played at Northwest.

Malcolm wears 28 for the Longhorns and Hawkins wears  51.