By BILL BURRUS
Sports Editor
Willie Totten is sure glad to have redshirt freshman running back Ronald Brewer on his side.
It wasn't that long ago that the Mississippi Valley State head coach thought he had lost a potentially great runner to another school.
Brewer came to Valley from Germantown (Tenn.) High School prior to the 2006 season believing he would win the starting tailback job. He was running second team behind Johey Hargrett, but Brewer hurt his shoulder in the preseason, fell behind in practice and wound up being redshirted.
Brewer asked for, and was granted by Totten, a release to transfer to another school.
“I was a little discouraged, but it wasn't just football. It was my surroundings and other things. I just didn't believe I was getting everything I needed to be successful,” Brewer explained. “I looked at some of the other schools that recruited me in high school, like Memphis and Arkansas State, but I didn't want to have to sit out a year.”
So Brewer decided to come to Valley, where Totten left the door open, hoping the running back would change his mind.
“I told him when he left that he could come back, and in July that's what he decided to do. I recruited him. I knew I needed guys like him, guys from very successful programs, in our program,” Totten said.
Brewer entered the first game of the 2007 season as the Delta Devils' third-string tailback. But Hargrett, a returning starter, and his backup, Stephen Roberts, were suspended for the first half of the opener for violating team curfew.
Brewer got the start. He ran with the chance and hasn't looked back.
He has started every game this season for the 2-5 Delta Devils and has been the lone offensive bright spot for a team that ranks ninth in the 10-team league in scoring offense with 13.7 points per game and in total offense with 242 yards a contest.
Brewer, a 5-foot-10, 210-pounder with 4.5-second speed in the 40-yard dash, is second in the Southwestern Athletic Conference in rushing with with 131 carries for 621 yards and two touchdowns. He is averaging 4.7 yards per attempt.
Totten isn't surprised at what Brewer has accomplished in his first year of college football.
“I can't say enough about what Ronald Brewer has done for us. He's been outstanding all year,” Totten said. “He runs so hard and runs with great determination. He's an aggressive runner. He gets some of his yardage on his own because he's so good at breaking tackles.
“He has a fast motor all the time. He practices so hard. Sometimes you have to tell him to slow it down in practice.”
Brewer says it took a lot of hard work to get where he is, and he still sees room for improvement.
“People say I am a bruiser, but I can run away from people or run around them. I don't have the moves that some do, but that's what I am going to work hard on during the offseason,” he said.
Brewer and Co. will face a tough test Saturday at Prairie View, because the Panthers rank first in scoring defense (10.5 points a game), third in total defense (301 ypg) and fifth in rush defense (125 pgg).
