20B / SPORTS / MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
FOOTBALL
Former WR returns to create inside-access programs
BY MAX VOSBURGH
mvosburgh@kansan.com
Micah Brown made only one catch in his college career at Kansas, but perhaps it's one you might remember, as it was certainly one for the highlight reel.
Kansas was up 17-14 against Virginia Tech in the 2008 Orange Bowl and looking to melt time off the clock when it was faced with a fourth-and-10 at its own 49-yard line. The play was a fake punt and Brown, who was standing near the sideline, caught a 22-yard pass for a first down.
That turned out to be the end of Brown's career at Kansas. The catch was used in highlights and included in stories of the game. However, little did Brown know at the time, it wouldn't be the last opportunity he had to create highlights for the Kansas football team.
in film directing and screenwriting and moved to Los Angeles to work with movie trailers. After doing that for a couple years, he received a call from the KU Athletics department asking if he would like to come back to Kansas and shoot film of the football team.
Brown graduated with a major
In a small-world coincidence, Brown's dad, Todd, and coach Turner Gill are life-long friends. When Gill was a coach at Nebraska, Brown's dad was a receiver for the Cornhuskers. It just so happened
Using the new HBO series "Hard Knocks" as inspiration, Brown created an inside-access, raw look
campus. With his background in film, he was given complete freedom to create something for people to watch as this new era in Kansas football unfolds.
"I get to do everything that you would get to do in making a movie or a TV show."
that Gill was hired at Kansas, opening a door for Brown to return to the Midwest.
into a side of football practices, games and team activities that fans normally never see.
KU Athletics gave Brown free reign when he arrived back on
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
MICAH BROWN Director, "The Gridiron"
"I have two perspectives," Brown said. "I have a perspective of being on the team, knowing how things work and also the perspective of being a fan, sitting outside as an alumni
and being curious."
Thus, "The Daily Grind" and "The Gridiron" were born. "The Daily Grind" is a daily 30-second video clip recapping that
Micah Brown makes his only career catch on a fake punt in the 2008 Orange Bowl on Jan. 3, 2008. He is returning to the team this fall to direct program documenting football behind the scenes.
day's activities. "The Gridiron" is a weekly episode that comes out every Monday and captures progress through the entire week starting with practice and team meetings, ending with the game that week and access into the locker rooms.
"The guys on the team really like it," Brown said. "They were really excited and cooperative letting me shoot with them and stuff. The little things like hanging out in the locker room, going to Dave and Buster's and all those things that kind of get forgotten are now captured on film and it just kind of completes the experience."
Brown and his wife, Leann, live in Lawrence now and have been promoting the videos on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
So how does a guy who played a part in the jayhawks' Orange Bowl
You can view the videos by going to kufootball.com and clicking on "The Gridiron".
"I'm really grateful for the opportunity," Brown said. "I get to write, direct, produce, edit and do sound design. I get to do everything that you would get to do in
victory feel about his new role at Kansas?
making a movie or a TV show. I'm involved in every part of it. The guys I work with are awesome, Coach Gill and his guys are great."
— Edited by Clark Goble
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Stanford running back Jeremy Stewart gets outside Washington State defensive end Casey Hamlett in a game on Sept. 5, 2009. Toby Gerhart is off to the NFL and Stanford has few proven backs to replace him.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Stanford looks to replace Toby Gerhart
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
Will Stanford's next Toby Gerhart please stand up?
It could be Jeremy Stewart, a 6-foot, 218-pound senior from Baton Rouge, La., the Cardinal's most experienced tailback.
"Everybody is trying to figure out what we're going to do without Toby," Stewart said of the player taken in the second round of the NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings. "So we're looking to make a name for ourselves."
Or it could be Tyler Gaffney, a 6-1, 216-pound sophomore from San Diego, who like Gerhart also played on the Cardinal baseball team.
"That was last season," he said of Gerhart's fairy-tale year that put Stanford on the national stage.
"There's nothing I can do. I can't call Toby and tell him to come back out here."
"We don't have the 235-pound monster sitting back there for 30 carries a game, but we're feeling good about where we are," offensive coordinator David Shaw said. "We might look a little different. We
Or perhaps it will be Gerhart's backup last season, sophomore Stepfan Taylor of Mansfield. Texas, who gained 303 yards in 56 carries.
Whether it is one, two or three backs, the theme heading into the Cardinal's 2010 season is simple: duplicate Gerhart's school-record 1.871 yards rushing and 28 touchdowns. Stanford was second in the Pacific-10 Conference — 11th nationally — in rushing offense with an average of 218.2 yards per game.
might do a few things a little different. But the way we play football is really not going to change."
At least that's the plan. Stanford's running game remains one of the biggest question marks on offense as the Cardinal prepares for the season opener Sept. 4 against Sacramento State. If any of the backs who played last year struggle, coaches might consider redshirt freshman Usua Amanam of Bellarmine College Prep or incoming freshmen Ricky Seale of Escondido and Anthony Wilkerson of Foothill Ranch in Orange County.
As of now the team refuses to back away from a brand of football coach Jim Harbaugh loved as an All-America quarterback at Michigan.
"We're still going to be focused on the power running game," said left tackle Jonathan Martin, one
of four returning starters on the offensive line. "We're still going to be physical, trying to get the other team to quit."
What Stanford doesn't have is a human bowling ball who demoralized defenses by refusing to go down even on broken plays. A handful of relatively unknown players are being asked to build on the extraordinary legacy left by Gerhart, who finished second to Alabama's Mark Ingram in the closest Heisman Trophy vote ever.
While Gerhart tries to learn the complicated schemes of the NFL, the new tailbacks want to establish a rushing game that complements quarterback Andrew Luck.
"Everybody wants to be the guy," said Stewart, who missed seven games last season because of an ankle sprain and stress fracture.
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