Courtesy of Craig Haley
FCS Exec. Director/The Sports Network
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) -- It really is life in the fast lane with Bryant University running back Jordan Brown.
He spent the first 11 years of his life in Indianapolis. Now 21, he has attended the Indianapolis 500 every year since he was 6.
Vroom, vroom ...
Brown, who has been clocked in 4.47 seconds in the 40-yard dash, saves the football field for his favorite track.
As a junior last year, the 5-foot-9, 185-pound Brown had the most carries (329) and rushing yards (1,815), the highest rushing average (165 yards per game), the second-highest all-purpose yard average (227.3) and the third-highest touchdown total (22), in the Football Championship Subdivision.
However, the Northeast Conference Offensive Player of the Year and third-team All-America was not recognized among the official FCS statistical leaders because Bryant was in its final season as a provisional school that was reclassifying from Division II to the FCS.
This year, the Bulldogs are eligible for both the NEC championship and FCS playoffs. Brown will lead their cause, trying to build on his ninth-place finish in the Walter Payton Award balloting.
In Five-a-Side - In the FCS Huddle's monthly feature of "five questions, five answers" with an influential person in the FCS - Brown discusses the season ahead, as well as the possibility of a Payton Award winner coming from a smaller FCS conference.
Let's kick off:
TSN: It would seem hard for you to improve on your junior season individually. How possible is this to you?
JB: It's very possible. I've been thinking about it ever since the last game of the season was over. We lost to Central (Connecticut State), 42-21. It was in front of our home crowd, so it was kind of embarrassing, and I didn't put out my best individual performance as well. So it was kind of an embarrassing performance on both sides, team-wise and individual-wise.
I was very, very happy with my accomplishments, but I'm the kind of person who (thinks) there's always room for improvement. I've been wanting to go over 2,000 yards ever since I came into college. And I thought last year was going to be the year.
This year, our team is going to be excellent. I think that with the amount of firepower that we have and the ability to improve, and the fact that we can go to the playoffs this year, is going to enhance our team's motivation. My offensive line, they're going to work. I'm so happy that I have guys like them around me to protect me and protect our team and open those holes. I'm just going to run right through 'em and see what happens after that.
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