By Duane Cochran
For the Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT
Sat, May 17 2008
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To say Doug Brazill’s first collegiate football season was a success might just be a bit of an understatement.
After all no freshman in Fairmont State history carried the football for more yards in a season than Brazill, who rambled for 1,137 yards and four touchdowns on 248 attempts last fall.
He averaged 103.4 yards per game, 4.6 yards per carry and turned in a single-season yardage total which ranks eighth all-time in FSU history. He also finish fourth in the West Virginia Conference in rushing and was named honorable mention All-WVC.
Not too shabby for the redshirted youngster from Daytona Beach, Fla who idolizes former Pittsburgh Steelers standout Jerome Bettis and runs a lot like him.
However, Brazill, his coaches and teammates now only expect better things in the future.
“As far as progression goes it all starts with a great attitude and I think Doug possesses that,” said FSU running backs coach Rodney Wilson. “At the beginning of last season you could see he had things he needed to work on, but he committed himself to doing that and as the season progressed his game progressed.
“As far as the future is concerned if he continues with that same attitude and continues to work and fine tune his game I think he has the potential to leave here possibly being the best back to ever run the football here at Fairmont State.”
That’s a lofty goal, but it’s certainly one that the 5-9, 210-pound Brazill has his sights set on. A more immediate goal for the youngster and Wilson, his position coach, is for Brazill to become more of a complete running back.
“Our goal is to make Doug a complete back,” said Wilson. “That’s first and foremost on our agenda. He can run the football with power. We know that. We want him to work hard this spring and over the summer on his speed and his pass catching ability.
“Right now he doesn’t have breakaway speed. We also want to be able to use him as a receiver out of the backfield on screens and things like that. If he can develop in those two areas he’s going to become more dangerous and that, in turn, is only going to make our offense more of a success.”
Brazill, who topped the 100-yard mark in six of FSU’s final seven games, totally agrees with Wilson.
“I’m still young and I want to get better in all areas,” he said. “I want to be able to score more touchdowns for us next season. I have to work on my speed. I don’t want people to be able to catch me from behind. If I get through the line of scrimmage and break out I want to be able to score and not get caught at the one.
“One of the things we’re doing to work on my speed is running more sprints. I’m running 50-yard sprints, 30-yard sprints and things like that. It’s going to pay off.”
Brazill says one of the biggest differences between this spring and last spring is he has much more confidence in himself and he’s more comfortable now on the field.
“Last year coming into the season I really didn’t know how much I was going to play,” said Brazill. “I knew I was going to play a little, but I really didn’t know how much. Also, early in the season last year I was a little nervous out there because I was kind of unsure of my role. Now I know my role and after having played one full season I’m a lot more confident in myself and what we’re doing offensively. Confidence is a big, big factor in terms of your success as a player.”
As the 2007 season progressed FSU’s young offensive players like true freshman quarterback Vick Bradford, redshirt freshman receiver Perry Baker, redshirt freshman tight end Stephan Johnson and true freshman running back Omoniyi Bakare all showed signs of maturing and developing into bonafide threats on the field. Because of that Brazill says he has high hopes for Fairmont’s offense next fall.
“I think our offense is going to open up big time next year,” said Brazill. “There were times last year when we would just run, run and run and I don’t think that’s going to be the case now. Hopefully we’ll be able to throw the ball with more success next fall which, I think, will only make our running game that much more effective.”
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