Denton running back Coco Brown doesn’t give anyone the chance to doubt him.
Despite playing on a team that won just one game in each of its last two seasons, Brown has put up better numbers than some state title-winning backs.
Despite being just 150 pounds as a sophomore, he proved himself and earned a spot on varsity, even when his coaches were insistent he played JV.
And despite being his team’s most obvious weapon and finishing among the top area rushers each season, he still finds a way to surpass his totals, year over year.
“He has this mentality about him — no retreat, no surrender, never give up,” Denton coach Billy Miller said. “It’s ‘I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that everybody around me has everything they need.’”
Brown leads all running backs in the Dallas area across all classifications with 1,254 yards and 14 touchdowns on 154 carries through Denton’s first six games this season. As the top returning rusher in his classification, Brown has built upon his strong sophomore and junior campaigns to help Denton surpass its win total from the last two seasons as the heart of its offense.
“I don’t feel like I can fully express what he does for us because it almost sounds made up,” Miller said. “It’s surreal what he brings into our field house every day.”
Miller said one of his favorite parts of coaching Brown is how he never shies away from a challenge. Over the last few seasons, his role on the team has entailed sometimes carrying the ball 40 times a game.
“He’s a warrior,” Miller said. “He carries the brunt of the load. He is the focal point for us offensively, which makes him the focal point for the defensive group that’s trying to stop him.”
This season alone, Brown has accounted for 14 of his team’s 20 total touchdowns. Last season, he was responsible for nearly half.
TD Denton!! Wow. First play from scrimmage and Coco Brown is gone 78 yards as the Broncos grab the early 7-0 lead #txhsfb @DentonFootball pic.twitter.com/x3UMdAACGo
— Devin Hasson (@DevinHasson) September 30, 2022
After rushing for 854 yards and five touchdowns in his first season on varsity, Brown had a breakout year as a junior, finishing with 1,734 yards and 13 scores. Coming into this season, he knew there’d be a target on his back.
“Everybody knows who you are, and they’re gonna key on you,” Miller said. “When they turn the film on or when they open Dave Campbell’s magazine in August and they go, ‘Alright, who do we have to stop in our district,’ each year, it continues to be him.”
But those expectations haven’t fazed him, and defenses continue to have no answer for him.
“It’s hard for them to stop him because he doesn’t stop,” Miller said. “In three years of varsity football, I’ve never seen the kid fall backwards. Even if he’s getting tackled for a three-yard loss, he’s always falling forward.”
When Brown’s time at Denton comes to an end, he’s set to play for Sam Houston, which he chose over Incarnate Word, Lamar and Weber State. As the area’s top producer at his position, Miller said Brown was wildly underrecruited, considering what he does on the field and his work ethic and contributions to the team off it.
“I can’t tell you the number of coaches that have sat in my office and said, ‘Man, I love Coco. Coco has got this, he does this. He’s got it,’” Miller said. “They’ll just run down a litany of all the intangibles and all the things that he does well and go, ‘Yeah but we’ve got this other guy, and we’re gonna try to get him and then we’ll come back.’”
Miller added that Brown has put on 15-to-20 pounds each year he’s been on varsity, growing from 150 pounds to 195. He expects that Brown will be 215 by his freshman year of college once Sam Houston’s trainers get to work with him.
If he plays anything like he has during his years at Denton, Brown is destined to make some noise at the next level. As happy as Miller is for him, he’s not trying to think too far ahead to that time and is making the most of the last few months they have left together.
“I, myself, am humbled to be around somebody with that type of character,” he said. “I said, ‘You better make sure you call me next year. I don’t know what I’m going to do without you.’”
On Twitter: @Lassimak
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