As we get less than a month away from the start of training camp for the 2015 football season, I thought I would take a look back at one of the greatest running backs in Towson history who many people overlook.

Statistically speaking
Brian McCarty is near the top in just about every major category. He is fourth all time in rushing yards with 2594, trailing only Terrance West, Jason Corle and Tony Vinson. Speaking of Vinson, you have to remember that McCarty accumulated these numbers while being the number two back behind Tony in 1992 and '93.  Until TWest exploded on the scene in 2012, I don't think there was much doubt Vinson is the most productive Towson running back of all time.

His freshman season
Brian came to Towson as a freshman in the 1991 season. He made his mark right away, as a powerful running back with good speed and good hands. In the Tigers' first game of the season against Boston University, he rushed for 95 yards on 18 carries. That became par for the course of his entire Towson career, as he is third all time with 5.4 yards per carry.

In 1991, Towson won just a single football game. They beat Howard by a score of 13-7. The winning touchdown for the Tigers was scored by Brian on a 38-yard swing pass. His quarterback, Hall of Famer Dan Crowley, says Brian "was great coming out of the backfield.  He was terrific at taking a swing pass and turning it into big gainers."

A career day
In 1992, he had a career game against Northeastern. The only thing most people remember about that ball game was the crazy last-second kickoff return by Towson leading to a final untimed play that ended in a touchdown pass from Crowley to Mark Orlando.

What gets buried in the game is McCarty had one of the finest days of any Towson running back, rushing for 245 yards on 37 carries. For the season he rushed for 703 yards and added another 170 yards receiving.

McCarty had a tremendous start to the 1993 season. In just five games, he rushed for 390 yards, averaging 7.0 yards per carry before a separated shoulder ended his season. But he came back with a vengeance in his senior year to record, at the time, just the fourth 1000-yard season in Tiger history. He finished with 1005 yards in helping to lead Towson to its second straight 8-2 season.

Looking back
So, when you look back on Brian McCarty's career, he is fourth in rushing, third all time in scoring, and, as I mentioned, third all time in yards per carry. Had he not been injured in his junior season, he would most likely have been the all-time leading scorer until Terrance came along.

Those 1993 and '94 football teams were two of the finest in the history of the program. Brian was a huge part of their success. Again, his quarterback Dan Crowley says "Brian was just tough. He played his entire senior season with shoulder braces on because he couldn't afford to get another separated shoulder. His running style was just brutal physically. Brian would hit the line hard and just crush the first defender that tried to tackle him."

Crowley, Vinson, Orlando are the names everyone remembers from that era. Brian McCarty needs to be remembered right up there with those three Hall of Famers.

Until next week, hit'em straight.