Burner Brown racks up yardage
Goodwin Tech star puts up big stats — but prefers to win
He takes one cut, and he’s gone.
Nehemiah Brown, a senior running back for the Vinal Tech/ Goodwin Tech/Whitney Tech co-op, is a burner. He takes the handoff from quarterback Mark Francis Jr., stutter steps, waits for a hole to open and is off and running.
He’s rarely tackled before the second level of the defense. Despite his top-end acceleration, he’s patient. He follows his blockers — he doesn’t try to make every play on his own, although sometimes he does naturally — and waits for the play to develop before seizing his opportunity to cut upwards, ease past the defensive line and the linebackers for a gain.
But it wasn’t always that easy. Brown always had the speed. He claimed that during travel ball in the eighth grade was when he first began to realize that his speed was on a different level. When Brown, who attends Goodwin Tech, joined the team as a sophomore, coach Joseph Cefaratti looked to turn the gifted speedster into a true running back.
“Coach Cef always told me,
‘Be patient, the blocks are going to form,’” Brown said. “I used to always run past my blocks in practice. Then I came into practice one day and decided to listen.
“And now, here I am.”
Brown is second in the state in rushing with 1,570 yards for the Techs (2-5). He’s averaged 224.3 yards per game, has scored 11 touchdowns, and has been statistically one of the most dominant players in the state at his position.
Even when the blocks fall apart and the designed play collapses, Brown is rarely posting anything but a positive run. Against the co-op program known as MCWUnited (Wolcott Tech, Housatonic Regional and Wamogo) in Week 2, he took a jet sweep to the right and cut forward. When the line collapsed and he saw a pack of defenders closing in on him, he cut back
laterally across the field, then cut upwards again for a 45yard gain.
“If I see one of my lineman blocking, and they're blocking the wrong way, or the play breaks, I know to jump cut in, and I know that the opposite side of my offense — like my wide receivers — are still blocking,” Brown said.
Brown is among the state's most efficient players. He's carried the ball just 99 times — 42nd most in the state — but is still second on the rushing leaderboard courtesy of a gaudy 15.9 yards per carry.
To put that into perspective, each of the other top 10 rushers in the state have all carried the ball an average of 40 more times than Brown has this season. Cefaratti says that Brown's relatively light usage is designed to keep the defense guessing more than anything else.
“If he was to carry the ball every time, in our league, teams are going to start [loading up the defensive line on the side] where he's going to,” Cefaratti said. “Even now they are.”
Brown's ability to make quick cuts is his best skill. He barely loses speed when he shifts his feet and angles his 5-foot-9 frame into a different direction, and says he doesn't even consciously think to cut, rather that it comes naturally.
He grew up watching highlights of former Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy. Like Brown, McCoy, who now plays for the Buffalo Bills, is best known for his quick feet.
Brown has his eyes set on college football. He's been in talks with coaches from the Division I FCS level all the way down to Div. III, but thinks that completing a post-grad year wouldn't hurt.
For now, he'll keep running — and hopefully, winning.
“I try to stay humble,” he said. “To me, the numbers mean nothing. If we don't come out with a win, the numbers mean nothing to me.”
Hand’s McCabe is a true bell-cow back
Hand-Madison's Colin McCabe is the state's safest bet. On his worst days — like against Hillhouse in Week 1, when he rushed for just 49 yards — he scored three touchdowns. He's scored a touchdown in each of the Tigers' games. He even did so against Harding, when he carried the ball just once — for a 21-yard touchdown.
He's scored three touchdowns in five separate games, and has 20 total on the season. Much can be said for the play of junior quarterback Phoenix Billings and a dominant defense, but it's hard to imagine the Tigers — undefeated and ranked first in The Courant's area rankings and second in the state — would be where they are without the reliable McCabe.
Area highlights
Cromwell/Portland quarterback Bryce Karstetter has been a yardage machine all season, but his latest feat might be his most impressive. Karstetter threw for six touchdowns — in the first half — of the Panthers' 48-18 win over Morgan. ... Windham's Natanael Barbosa Torres rushed for 289 yards and six touchdowns on just 16 carries in a 47-0 win over Woodstock Academy.