Payton Brown continues to dominate the backfield, named Big South-OVC Freshman of the Week

If you haven’t heard the name Payton Brown around campus yet then it might be time to get familiar with it. The 6-foot-1, 216-pound freshman running back has taken over the Redhawks backfield and has been a key component to the team’s 3-1 start to the season.

The Hillsboro, Missouri native leads the team in rushing with 242 yards and four touchdowns. He’s averaging 5.4 yards per carry and 60.5 rushing yards per game.

Last week, against rival Southern Illinois University - Carbondale, Brown had his best game of the season, running for 124 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown. He became the first Redhawk player to surpass 100 yards rushing in a game this year.

For his efforts against the Salukis, Brown was named the Big South-Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week for the first time in his young career. Brown said it is nice to get the recognition for his play, but it’s back to business as usual as the team prepares for their next opponent.

“It was cool to see for about five minutes and then you realize it’s just another week. You got to move on, got to play next week and make this game the biggest game you got, then the next week,” Brown said.

The Redhawks come into this week with the top offense in the OVC led by senior quarterback Paxton DeLaurent. DeLaurent said he is impressed with his young running back and how quickly Brown has adapted to the college game.

“He’s so talented. He runs the ball so well and I’m really happy with his maturity and just knowing the game of football and how he takes care of business on and off the field,” DeLaurent said.

As an early enrollee at SEMO, Brown has shown a level of poise and maturity since he stepped on campus. Part of that comes from the support system that the SEMO football program has to offer. Even as a freshman, his teammates and coaching staff gave them their respect and helped instill confidence in him as he transitioned to the college level.

Running backs coach Madison Bunch said Brown has always had the talent, but credits the team and coaching staff for building his confidence early on in his collegiate career.

“He wants to be coached and you know my [running back] room as a whole has a lot of different personalities, but they’re really good young men. They cheer each other on and they all help each other,” Coach Bunch said. “I think it’s more so not him adjusting, but I think there’s a really good camaraderie in our room and like I said a bunch of great men in there that support each other and are very unselfish.”

You can catch Brown and the rest of SEMO’s high-powered offense on Saturday, September 27th against Northwestern State at Houck Stadium with kickoff at 3 p.m..