Top 2 Rushing Leaders in Georgia Separated by 1 Yard
One yard. One yard separated the winner from the runner-up. No, I am not talking about the Seahawks-Patriots Super Bowl (and the unpleasant memories it brings me back). Instead, this 1 yard refers to the 2021 state rushing leaders in Georgia. Throughout the course of the regular season, two running backs pulled away from the rest and proved to the state that they were here to stay. They are Rob Brown (Trion) and Keyjuan Brown (South Atlanta). And no, they are not related, but it certainly would be cool if they were!
Through the seventh week of the season, it did not seem like either of these standouts would even be in contention for the rushing title. Keyjuan was just under 400 yards away from first place, which was held by Houston County’s Simeon Askew. But Rob? He sat in a distant 15th place with only 885 yards. Rob wasn’t even first in 1A-Public in rushing yards.
Two weeks later, Keyjuan’s consistency had led him to second in the rushing rankings, exactly 201 yards away from Askew’s state-leading 1,635-yard total. Rob had dropped one spot from 15th to 16th place and had just barely crossed the 1,000-yard threshold.
Just one week later, Keyjuan Brown jumped Simeon Askew and officially led Georgia in rushing yards. However, the greater accomplishment was Rob’s. Behind a 290-yard, 4-TD performance against Armuchee, Rob catapulted to seventh on the rushing leaderboard and launched himself into the conversation to be a potential top-five rusher at season’s end. Then Week 11 happened.
Keyjuan once again showed poise in his seventh and last 200-yard rushing game during the 2021 regular season. As expected, he held his spot at first, but second no longer belonged to Simeon Askew. Jumping from seventh was (you guessed it) Rob Brown, who rushed for a whopping 407 yards and seven touchdowns against Mt. Zion. His outstanding performance entered the Georgia record books as the 17th-most rushing yards in a single game.
Entering the last week of the season, Rob Brown needed to outgain Keyjuan Brown by 147 yards to claim the state rushing title for 2021. In the region championship game against Columbia, Keyjuan rushed for 134 yards and led the Hornets to back-to-back region titles. Against Gordon Lee, Rob rushed for 281. In the last week of the regular season, Rob Brown edged out Keyjuan Brown for the state rushing title by one, singular yard (2,002 to 2,001) with his 281-yard performance. What are the odds?
While Rob took home the rushing title, it was clear that Keyjuan was the more consistent running back all season. He had seven 200-yard rushing performances and never eclipsed 270 yards in a game. Both running backs scored on the ground 32 times and had almost the exact same yards per carry. (Keyjuan averaged 10.9, and Rob averaged 10.8.) Despite different paths to the top of the leaderboard, both Browns have made a name for themselves and will continue to do so at the next level.
Written by: Dhruv Mohan
