MaxPreps Weekly Honor Roll, presented by the United States Marine Corps: Malakai Brown, Hedgesville

In the biggest game for the Hedgesville (W. Va.) football program in last 21 years, Malakai Brown came up with the best performance of his career.

But no one should be surprised. Brown shines when the stakes are the highest.

The junior dual-threat wide receiver/running back did in all in the opening-round playoff game on Nov. 10. Brown had eight receptions for 168 yards and two touchdowns to go along with 18 carries for 101 yards and another score as Hedgesville downed Parkersburg South 35-29 for the program's first postseason victory in over two decades.

"It's great to know that all that work that you put in and you did that," said Brown, who added eight tackles in the game. "It really benefits you in the long run."

Brown's on-field exploits don't show his true nature as a person. He's also a strong student with a 3.5 grade point average and is active in volunteering inside and out of school.

"He's a very humble young man," Hedgesville coach Joey Yurish said. "He comes from a good, strong background with his family. His dad's a Marine and mom's a really strong woman, and they preach grades. He's pretty all-around gifted."

Brown's monster playoff game is just a small sample size of his season. The 16-year-old has 55 receptions for 1,076 yards and 10 touchdowns. He's added 554 yards on the ground on 76 attempts and seven touchdowns.

Offense isn't Brown's only strength on the football field. The three-year starter at cornerback/inside linebacker has registered 71 tackles — which is second best on the team — five for loss, two sacks and two interceptions.

Brown is a jack-of-all-trades player for Yurish. Along with starting on both sides of the ball, Brown is on all four special teams units.
"When you have a kid like Malakai, you have to put him on the field," Yurish said. "We try to get him breaks here and there on the defensive side of the ball or on special teams, but he hardly ever takes them. He's one of those kids who wants to be on the field. He wants the ball in his hands and wants the opportunity to make an impact in the game."

Brown burst onto the scene last season, his first opportunity to start on offense. He finished with 81 catches for 1,393 yards and 12 touchdowns. The sensational sophomore campaign earned Brown the Randy Moss Award as West Virginia's best wide receiver.

Brown was presented the distinguished honor at an awards banquet.

"It was pretty amazing," Brown said. "It was a great experience to go to Charlestown and talk in front of all those people."

Brown looks up to Moss, who turned his video game-type acrobatics while playing high school football in West Virginia into a Hall of Fame NFL career. But Brown's game more similar to former West Virginia University standout receiver Tavon Austin. At 5-foot-11, Brown is fast and likes to slip tackles from opposing defenders.

Coming off his exceptional sophomore season, Brown wasn't satisfied. He wanted to improve his quickness and strength. Over the summer, Brown fought through two-a-day individual workouts every other day. On the in-between days, he attended a fitness center where he conducted ladder and sledding drills and hit the treadmill. Add in a strict food program that included four meals a day, Brown increased his muscle mass by about 20 pounds.

His diligent offseason work has paid off, making him a better wide receiver this year.

"My acceleration and the ability to move laterally and to read the field, my vision," Brown said.

Colleges have taken notice of Brown's explosive on-field traits. West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen and his staff have been aggressively courting the star receiver. Brown has visited the Morgantown campus, which is two hours from his house, four times.

"When you talk to (coach Holgorsen) you're all excited," Brown said. "You don't know what to say sometimes and you think, ‘Yeah, I made it.' "

Cincinnati, Kentucky and Louisville are also on Brown's preliminary college list. He hasn't quite pinpointed his career path but is considering engineering or physical therapy as possible options.

Since Brown is a solid student, he won't have a problem getting into his school of choice.

"If you don't have the schooling, you're definitely not going to make into college first of all," Brown said. "My mom's always sticking it to me. When I come home with a bad grade, she's always checking. She just questions it, ‘What could you have done better?' "

Brown has an extremely structured home life. With his dad, James, a master gunnery sergeant in the Marines, discipline isn't lacking.

"It definitely makes me a better person, manners and stuff like that and speaking," Brown said. "Hanging with the right people for sure, less parties and more studying."

Brown stays active in school with the ministry program Young Life. When he was younger, Brown's mom got him connected with the BackPack Program. About five to six times per year, Brown helps bag food that is distributed at schools to children of low-income families who might not be able to afford to pay for meals.

When Brown heads to BackPack Program events, he enjoys inviting his friends and football teammates.

"When I go to church to try to bring other people to expose them as much as me because I know they could be at the level that I'm at for sure," Brown said.

Brown is always looking for ways to make a difference in his community. He'll certainly never shy away from helping out.

"The thing I love about Malakai is he doesn't know any strangers," Yurish said. "He tries to talk to everybody and gives everybody an opportunity to just relish in who he is. Whether it's a young kid or a grown adult, he's very respectful to them. He's a fun kid to be around. He's very energetic. He's got a great smile about him.