Raleek Brown’s explosive capabilities make the difference for the Sun Devils

With just 14 seconds to play in the third quarter, Arizona State had already turned the ball over twice in its last four drives, and it planned to wind down the clock to take momentum into the final quarter against Colorado. 

Yet junior running back Raleek Brown had a different plan; the shifty back broke free for 20 yards and saw space; he only had a couple of defenders to beat and used his incredible athleticism to leap over a Buffalo defensive back and pick up extra yards.

Just one problem, he left the ball behind. 

Brown fumbled, and Colorado recovered it. The coaching staff’s frustration with his decision to attempt the hurdle was evident. Fortunately for Brown, junior cornerback Keith Abney II recovered a fumble on the following drive, and Brown had an opportunity for redemption.

“I told everybody I was going to get a touchdown the next possession,” Brown said in a conversation with his team after his fumble. “It happened on the first play.

On his first chance to make amends, a patient Brown read the tackles and accelerated into the secondary, except this time, there was nobody in his path; he sprinted 88 yards for his second touchdown of the game. 

His score broke a tight contest wide open, and the Sun Devils dominated the final period, scoring 21 points in their eventual 42-17 victory. 

“Once you run the ball, everything opens up,” Brown said. “We just had to get a feel for the defense and see what they were doing. Once we got a feel, we were just on one.

“I’d just seen a big hole and then just burst through it. I just followed the big hole and saw it and just burst, and nobody was back there.” 

Brown laughed when asked about an official pulling his hamstring chasing him on the 88-yard run, saying, “I felt slow.” Colorado certainly wouldn’t claim that. 

He dominated all night in Boulder, rushing for 255 yards on just 22 carries; that math checks out for 11.6 yards per rush. Brown tallied six double-figure carries and opened up the game in timely moments, rushing for four first downs. 

His 255 rushing yards broke the ASU record for rushing yards in a road contest; the previous title holder was Ben Malone, who ran for 251 yards at Oregon State back in 1973.

It doesn’t hurt that Brown also notched a new career-high on the day; his previous peak was 134 yards against Texas Christian earlier in 2025

“He played phenomenal,” head coach Kenny Dillingham said Saturday. “The offensive line played great in the second half. We started getting hats on hats and started moving people. Running backs found the holes, and he played phenomenally in the second half.” 

Rushing for 147 yards in the second half, Brown subsequently eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards on the season, 1,078 following the Colorado victory, making it the sixth time in the last seven seasons (the lone exception being a Covid-shortened season) an ASU back has reached 1,000 scrimmage yards under running backs coach Shaun Aguano. 

Out of the four backs preceding Brown, three went on to get drafted to the NFL.

“Coach Aguano’s had a great impact on me,” Brown said. “He’s a smart coach, he knows what he’s talking about. He gives me good tips, and he just lets me play. 

Before Aguano’s move to ASU in 2019, he’d spent eight seasons as the head coach of Chandler High School. He led the program to an 88-19 record and four state championship titles. His running backs led the way, posting three consecutive 2,000-yard seasons with all three of his backs going on to play at Power 5 programs.

“Coach Aguano’s awesome,” Dillingham said. “When you’re a head coach and winning state championships and you’re known as the best coach in the state for a long time. Then you get to coach like five guys, you’re going to be pretty good at it. He just gets to focus on five guys he gets to pour into them, and he gets great results.” 

Brown’s high-octane play wasn’t limited to his work between the tackles; he broke the game open in the second quarter, scoring a 33-yard touchdown as senior Jeff Sims found him on a Wheel route, dashing up the right sideline. 

At just 5-foot-9, Brown isn’t a vertical threat, but his speed and experience as a pass catcher showed in his game-breaking score. During the 2022 season at Southern California, Brown completed 16 passes, averaging 10.9 yards per reception, and scored four touchdowns. 

In 2025, he remained a threat as a pass catcher, completing 32 passes for 196 yards. Now, he’s notched receiving touchdowns in consecutive games for the pair he has on the year. 

“They were playing man,” Brown noted. “So once you get past the second level, ain’t nobody there really.”

Brown’s incredible season has been on display all year; he’s solidified himself atop the Big 12 conference in all-purpose yards, averaging 124.8 per game while sitting second amongst the league in total rushing yards. 

He’s been called upon to deliver when ASU’s offense has stalled in 2025; however, after Brown ran for over 100 yards in three of the first five weeks of the season, he failed to even mark 100 yards of total offense in the following five weeks. The Big 12 seemed to have his shifty but agile style figured out. 

But it’s Brown’s threat as a back who can explode for large gains in a flash that’s given him immense value all season, and once again against Colorado. 

“We hit some explosives on some of our gap scheme runs. We hadn’t been very good, a gap really this year. But we got in a rhythm with them and hit some big ones,” Dillingham said.

“Obviously, when you can run the football, the game is easy. When you can run the ball and stop the run, you’re going to win 90% of your games if not more.” 

Dillingham spent a significant part of the offseason preparing for 2025, emphasizing the importance of explosive plays for the Sun Devils to succeed. In that breath, he meant sacks on defense and long touchdowns on offense. 

However, from an offensive perspective, that goal hasn’t been realized.

ASU has just 32 touchdowns on the campaign, 13th-place in the Big 12, but Brown’s pair on Saturday could give the maroon and gold a necessary boost ahead of a Territorial Cup match against an Arizona that’ll be riding into rivalry week off a 41-17 victory over Baylor. 

“Week 11,” Dillingham laughed. “Better late than never. Hopefully, we can build on that going into next week. Because (Arizona) is playing really, really, really good football.”