Posted: Fri, 22 Apr 2011 04:09 PM - 8,971 Readers
By: Randy Riggs
photography by Ron Jenkins
Mike Jinks recalls Malcolm Brown being duly impressed by the show he saw from Johnathan Gray in a high school state championship football game last December at Cowboys Stadium.
Actually, Brown — the standout running back from Cibolo Steele who signed with Texas two months ago — and Jinks, his head coach, both were impressed after watching Gray bludgeon La Marque's defense in the title match before their own championship game.
It was almost impossible not to be impressed.
After all, it's kind of hard to forget a 325-yard rushing performance that included eight touchdown runs. But what Jinks hasn't forgotten was a comment Brown made to him while they watched Aledo's junior running back.
"I remember him saying, 'Wouldn't it be awesome if we got a chance to be in the same backfield at Texas?' " Jinks recalled Friday. "I told him, 'I tell you what, if there's anything you can do to help him get there, I'd do it if I were you.'"
Brown will get his wish. Gray — Texas' top target for its 2012 recruiting class — announced early Friday morning that he will sign with the Longhorns. Friday was his 18th birthday.
Gray, who picked Texas over Texas A&M and TCU, gives the Longhorns two of the nation's top prep running back prospects in consecutive recruiting classes. Brown, who rushed for 6,663 career yards, was the nation's third-ranked running back for 2011; Gray, who has 6,990 yards with one season left to play, is the No. 2-rated back, according to 247sports.com.
The Longhorns, desperately trying to revive a running attack that has struggled lately, will in two years have two bona fide blue-chip backs to help jump-start the engine.
And nobody, least of all Gray, believes that's one too many.
"I think we'll do great," Gray said Friday, just prior to his morning press conference at his high school. "He's a dominant back and I'm a dominant back. You just put two and two together, we'll make each other better and just try to win a national championship."
Brown was unavailable for comment, but Jinks said the pair will "benefit greatly from each other."
"It's going to work out well for both of them," he predicted. "Each of them will have a more successful career because of the other. No doubt, you need two guys back there."
Indeed, there is no shortage of examples of other teams that have been propelled by a solid one-two punch at running back. In 2009 — a season the Longhorns recall all too well — Alabama won the national championship powered by Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram (1,658 yards) and Trent Richardson, who added 751 yards.
In the championship game against the Longhorns, Ingram ran for 116 yards and Richardson rushed for 109. Each had two rushing touchdowns.
That's one example. There are many others.
"It worked out pretty good for Eric Dickerson and Craig James," said Brenham coach Glen West, citing the SMU duo of the early 1980s.
West got a first-hand look at Gray's ability when Brenham and Aledo met for the 2009 state championship at Royal-Memorial Stadium. Brenham trailed late by seven points, but had Aledo in a third-and-8 hole at its own 11-yard line in the game's final minutes.
But Gray took a handoff and burst through right guard for an 89-yard touchdown that capped a 251-yard rushing day and clinched the first of two straight Aledo titles.
"When all's said and done, I'd have to say he's the best I've ever seen," West said.
"(Gray) is not just a speed back. He's a speed back with power," added Brenham linebacker Tim Cole, another top Longhorns recruit for 2012 who played against Gray in that 2009 game. "I think he and Malcolm Brown will be one of the best running back tandems in the nation."
It remains to be seen how the Longhorns will mix and match Gray and Brown, who currently weigh 202 and 221 pounds, respectively, according to their coaches. But West believes the pair will go a long way in curing Texas' numerous offensive woes, which have included a shaky line.
"You find that your line's play will elevate because of great backs," West said. "There's just a mindset change for a (lineman) when he knows that if he just stays in the way of a guy, that his back's got a chance to score."
Lake Travis coach Hank Carter has the distinction of having faced both backs. As a defensive coordinator in 2009, Carter watched Brown amass 299 yards in a playoff game, though the Cavaliers stopped him for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-goal from the 3 with 12 seconds left to preserve a 27-20 playoff victory in the Alamodome. Last season, in Carter's first as head coach, Gray slogged for 142 yards on a rain-soaked field as Aledo snapped Lake Travis' 48-game winning streak with a 14-10 victory.
Carter said Brown reminds him of former Ohio State star Chris "Beanie" Wells. Gray, he said, reminds him of former Longhorn Cedric Benson when Benson was in high school.
"Malcolm is very, very good at breaking tackles. Our kids were beat up after playing him," Carter said. "Gray can break them, too. He's got good size but is really fast, too.
"It's been a pleasure to get to watch them both," Carter said. "They're two of the best backs I've ever seen."
Gray, by the numbers2 Number of Class 4A, Div. II state titles Gray has helped Aledo win.
4 Gray's spot on the state's career TD list entering the 2011 season. He needs 12 TDs to surpass current Longhorn Traylon Shead for first place.
8 Number of TDs Gray scored in the 2010 title game vs. La Marque, a state record
13 Number of 200-yard rushing games for Gray the past two seasons
30 Number of 100-yard games for Gray the past two years, including 16 as a sophomore — tied for a state record
59 TDs for Gray in 2010, which broke Ken Hall's long-standing state record
868 Gray's career carries; he needs 267 to pass Jacquizz Rodgers for the state record
