Thomas Brown

As football fans, we all have our favorite players. One of mine was a 5'8" scatback from Tucker named Thomas Brown. During his UGA career, number 20 ran for 2,646 yards and 23 touchdowns. But, some of his greatest plays went unnoticed by statisticians.

In 2007, Knowshon Moreno burst onto the scene, rushing for 1,334 yards and 13 scores. But, one of my favorite plays transpired with Thomas Brown in the Bulldogs backfield. On a playaction pass with 3:09 left in the first quarter, Brown threw a key block on a blitzing Auburn defender, allowing Matt Stafford to launch a 58 yard six-strike to wide open receiver, Mohamed Massaquoi. The score gave Georgia a 10-3 lead and electrified the sellout crowd at Sanford Stadium on Blackout Saturday.

Bolstered by tremendous efforts from Brown, Moreno, Sean Bailey, and a defense that played with clean, old fashioned junkyard tenacity, the Dawgs finished the drill by defeating Auburn 45-20. The last score of the game was a 1 yard touchdown by Brown with 6:48 left in the fourth quarter.

As a member of the Georgia Bulldogs, the Tucker native led by example in all aspects of his life. Brown was a leader in the classroom, the weight room, and on the field. If you ask Mark Richt about the strongest player, pound for pound in UGA history, I'm sure he'll say, "Thomas did it the right way...as a matter of fact, he did it the Georgia way."