West Virginia RB Brown making most of lighter spring

Leddie Brown might not be partaking in an abundance of contact drills this spring, but that doesn’t mean that the senior running back isn’t getting plenty of work.

Brown, 6-foot-0, 212-pounds, is coming off his most productive season with the West Virginia football program rushing for 1,010 yards and 9 touchdowns in only 10 games. He averaged 5.2 yards per tote and to rush for over half of his total production after contact.

It was exactly the type of season that the coaches were hoping to see out of Brown as he established himself as one of the top running backs in the entire Big 12 Conference. But now, entering his third year in the program it was clear that Brown didn’t need to prove anything running the football.

So, the coaching staff made the decision to scale back his workload and subsequently the number of hits that he would be taking in practice. That meant he was used little in scrimmage situations and quite honestly it makes sense considering that the coaches already know what they have with him.

But that doesn’t mean he isn’t getting plenty of work in other situations.

“That was almost the only time he got almost no work,” running backs coach Chad Scott said. “The other times it’s about half and half.”

Brown has put an emphasis on his ability to catch the football out of the backfield this spring. While he displayed the ability to do it last season, the goal heading into this one is to be effective enough where he can even line up at receiver and create mismatches.

“He has great ball skills and just his understanding of things can take his game to another level,” Scott said.

Brown embraced cultivating a strong relationship with the offensive line last season during the off-season and he credits that for much of his success. Scott has seen that play out in practice as well such as recently when Brown was discussing what happened on a run play with guard James Gmiter.

Those relationships are forged in trust and Brown has certainly done his part to forward it along.

Scott also pointed out that in preparation for the Liberty Bowl, Brown led the running back group into the offensive line room to personally thank them for their roles in creating yards on the ground.

“He wanted to let those guys know as much of the success he’s had is because of the things they’ve done,” Scott said.

Brown made the decision to return to West Virginia for one final season after contemplating a possible jump to the NFL and is hoping to showcase that he is a complete back. That is well underway this spring as he focuses on the areas he has to improve to get there.

It might not be in a traditional sense when it comes to his workload, but he’s still getting plenty of it.

“He’s getting a lot of work. He’s going,” Scott said.

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