Derek Darnell Brown is a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 running back

Running back

A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...

. Brown played for four seasons in the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 for the New Orleans Saints

New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....

. He started his career at Servite High School

Servite High School

Servite High School is an all-boys, Roman Catholic college preparatory high school operated by the Order of Friar Servants of Mary . Located on a campus in Anaheim, California, USA, as of 2011 it had an enrollment of about 985 and about 9200 alumni. Its mascot is the Friar and its colors are black...

 in Anaheim, California

Anaheim, California

Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was about 365,463, making it the most populated city in Orange County, the 10th most-populated city in California, and ranked 54th in the United States...

, and graduated in 1993 from the University of Nebraska.

While at Servite High , a school with other notable football alumni such as Steve Beuerlein

Steve Beuerlein

Stephen Taylor "Steve" Beuerlein is a former football quarterback, and currently is an NFL and college football analyst for CBS.-Education:...

, Turk Schonert

Turk Schonert

Turk Leroy Schonert is a former quarterback, quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator in the National Football League.-Early years:...

 , and Blaine Nye

Blaine Nye

Blaine Francis Nye is a former American football offensive lineman in the National Football League and founder and president of Stanford Consulting Group, Inc...

 , he set the Orange County

Orange County, California

Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...

 single season rushing record with a mark of over 3,000 yards .

During his NFL career with the Saints he amassed 1383 yard

Yard

A yard is a unit of length in several different systems including English units, Imperial units and United States customary units. It is equal to 3 feet or 36 inches...

s on 388 carries

Carry (American football)

In American football, a carry is a statistical term equivalent to a single rushing play. The term is typically used in reference to "yards per carry," meaning yards per attempt rushing the ball. Any offensive player who performs a carry is known as a ballcarrier, regardless of position....

 and scored six touchdown

Touchdown

A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...

s in 56 games. He also caught 108 passes for 918 yards and three touchdowns. During this span he managed to only fumble

Fumble

A fumble in American and Canadian football occurs when a player, who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed or scoring. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking or successful handing that results in loss of player possession...

 the ball five times and returned five kicks for 71 yards.

As productive as he was with New Orleans, Brown's popularity really took off in college where he played for the Nebraska Cornhuskers

Nebraska Cornhuskers

The Nebraska Cornhuskers is the name given to several sports teams of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference...

. The 5-foot-9, 185-pound Brown played I-back in Dr. Tom Osborne's vaunted option offense. Brown rushed for 2,699 yards with 23 rushing touchdowns for Nebraska from 1990-1992. He also caught 29 passes for 313 yards with one TD reception.

Brown's single season best at Nebraska was his sophomore year in 1991 when he rushed for 1,313 yards on 230 attempts and scored 14 rushing touchdowns.

Additional sources

• huskerpedia.com/stats/stats_1990.html
• huskerpedia.com/stats/stats_1991.html
• huskerpedia.com/stats/stats_1992.html