Gus Malzahn makes Heisman Trophy pitch for Derrick Brown
By Keith Farner
Published:
An exclusively defensive player hasn’t been a finalist for the Heisman Trophy since 2012 when Notre Dame LB Manti Te’o. Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said that should change this year.
Malzahn at a press conference on Tuesday noted that DL Derrick Brown is a finalist for six national awards in a season when he chose to come back from the NFL.
Brown is a finalist for the Outland Trophy, Bednarik Award and Wuerffel Trophy. Brown is also a finalist for the Nagurski Trophy, Pop Warner Award and Senior Class Award.
“He’s had his best season,” Malzahn said. “He’s playing as good a football as anybody in the country, and I know that Heisman is usually for offensive players and all that, but there can’t be too many players around the country than him. So real excited for him.”
Despite being regularly double-teamed, Brown has delivered 43 tackles, which is tied for fourth on the Tigers’ defense along with nine tackles for loss and four sacks, both second on the team.
He made seven tackles each against second-ranked LSU and Ole Miss and most recently six against fifth-ranked Georgia. The Ole Miss game was one of three times he earned the SEC Defensive Player of the Week award.
Against Florida, Brown had a huge game. Brown was part of a defense that had four sacks, 11 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles. He had four tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, two fumble recoveries and a pass breakup.
Brown has 157 career tackles, 30.0 TFL’s and 13.0 sacks.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
