« Football 2016

Richie Brown

School
Mississippi State University
Position
Linebacker
Major
Industrial Technology

Classroom

Richie Brown will play the 2016 season as a college graduate after earning his degree in the difficult field of industrial technology with a 3.52 GPA in May 2016. Brown was accepted into the prestigious MSU MBA School and is currently pursuing a master of business. He is also a three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll.

Character

Brown lost his childhood home to Hurricane Katrina at age 11 and lived in Florida before returning back home to Mississippi nearly two years later. He recently married former MSU softball player Erin Nesbit in the spring of 2015 and is the only married student-athlete on the team. Brown is looked up to by many of his teammates on both sides of the ball regarding topics on and off of the football field.

Community

Brown has collected more than 94 hours of community service in his MSU career in 30 events (26 community service projects and four speaking engagements within the community). Some of those events include hospital visits, serving at MSU’s T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability, Salvation Army bell ringing, reading to local school kids, food drives and volunteering at the Starkville Humane Society. Brown is heavily involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and donated his 2015 Belk Bowl gift, a $300 Belk gift card, to less fortunate families. He also teaches Sunday school classes on a monthly basis and works with international adoption sports outreach on a weekly basis.

Competition

Brown is a star middle linebacker who is a leader on and off the field for the Bulldogs. He is extremely intelligent and has a knack for finding the football. So far in 2016 Brown is a Butkus Award Candidate, named to the Nagurski Trophy Watch List and preseason All-SEC-Coaches Third Team, Media Third Team and Athlon Sports Third Team.

Brown earned starting role as a junior after playing under the tutelage of current Houston Texans linebacker and former All-SEC Bulldog Benardrick McKinney. This year will be his fifth with the program after redshirting as a true freshman in 2012.

Brown entered his senior year three tackles shy of 200, racking up 197 tackles, 17.0 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks and five interceptions prior to the start of the season. He is the first MSU player to return the following season after recording 100 tackles since McKinney in 2013. As a junior in 2015, Brown ranked fifth in the SEC in total tackles with 109 and has forced five turnovers in his three seasons with the Bulldogs. His other accolades include winning the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week Award after collecting three interceptions against Texas A&M in 2014 and also was a two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Week Award winner.