PHOENIX – Thousands of cowbells clanging in unison. A uniting tradition for fans in Starkville, Mississippi. An annoyance to just about everyone else.
As irritating as they may be, they are also a call home for one Arizona State football player.
Running back Kyson Brown, who is also referred to as “Sip” by his teammates, knows how persistent the fans in the Deep South can be with their weapons of noise.
“It’s going to be loud. I just remember the last Egg Bowl game I was at, those fans were ringing those cowbells the entire time,” said Brown, referring to the annual college football game between Mississippi State and Ole Miss. “So, I think the key to victory is just going to be communicating and being on the same page.”
Brown and the 1-0 Sun Devils travel to Starkville to face 1-0 Mississippi State Saturday in ASU’s first road test of the season. For Brown, the trip holds special significance – nearly 70 miles north of Davis Wade Stadium is where his journey to Tempe began.
Brown was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and raised by his mother, LeKetra Shumpert Taylor. At the age of 8, his family relocated to Lancaster, Texas, where he developed a close relationship with the family of his friend Isaiah Shorter, whom he met through youth sports. When Brown’s mother was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, he moved back to Tupelo to help take care of her.
Brown compared his childhood home to a place familiar to Sun Devils fans.
“It was a lot like Camp T,” Brown said about Camp Tontozona, the mountain setting near Payson where the Sun Devils prepare for the season. “Being outdoors, hanging out with my friends and family. Coming outside and coming back home when the street lights came on. Learning things the hard way, getting cuts and bruises here and there.”
Tupelo High School football coach Ty Hardin, who coached Brown for a season, made it clear how much the sport of football is ingrained in the heart of the city of nearly 40,000 people.
“Football has kind of a religion down here,’ Hardin said in a phone interview. “Per capita, we put more guys in the league and college football than anywhere else. … There are some guys that (Kyson) has played against on Saturdays that he played with here in Tupelo. There’s a lot of those guys out there and lots of those guys that will be playing in the future.”
While his mother recuperated from the neurological disorder that saw her temporarily confined to a wheelchair, Brown returned to Lancaster to live with the Shorter family, enjoying school and football but missing his relatives to the east. Before starting high school, he moved back to Tupelo, where he played football for Hardin at Tupelo High School.
In 2020, as a sophomore for the Golden Wave, Brown carried the ball 100 times for 682 yards and scored 11 touchdowns. Hardin said he knew his tailback would shine at the next level because of his production on and off the field.
“He was a total package type of kid that did the right thing all the time,” Hardin said. “Always got extra work. He was a 4.2 (GPA) student in honors classes. Just a rare kid. When you coach a kid like that, you know they’re going to be successful a lot later in life and in football.”
However, once again torn by his passion for both families and football, Brown transferred back to Lancaster to finish his high school football career and was adopted by the Shorter family.
“It was just getting into a better opportunity,” Brown said. “I actually enjoyed school, being around my friends in Dallas. It wasn’t really tough. I did miss a lot of family, I did miss a lot of friends back home, but it was definitely ultimately a good decision for myself and my family.”
Brown, who is a member of Barrett, ASU’s honors program, still has a close relationship with his mother and the Shorters, and when Arizona State travels to the Magnolia State, the junior expects his hometown to swarm Starkville.
“I probably got the whole city of Tupelo coming,” Brown said. “I definitely have a lot of family and friends coming out. … It’s a tremendous feeling just knowing how far I’ve come. Those memories as a little kid just wanting to play football, looking up to those other guys who went to Mississippi State.”
After Cam Skattebo, ASU’s bulldozing running back, departed for the NFL with the New York Giants in April, the Sun Devils backfield this season was perceived as a position with great depth and several capable ballcarriers. Brown earned the starting role in the season-opening 38-19 win versus Northern Arizona, rushing for 145 total yards.
ASU coach Kenny Dillingham recognized Brown’s work ethic and growth as a leader before placing him atop the depth chart to start the season.
“What gives me confidence in him is that if the ball’s in his hands, I know that he’s going to give me everything he’s got,” Dillingham said. “Because that’s all he’s done for three years. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, I can sleep really well at night knowing that kid has poured everything he could into the program and himself.”
Mississippi State, despite finishing last in the SEC with a 2-10 record last season, represents an uptick in competition. Skattebo racked up a career-high 262 rushing yards in ASU’s 30-23 win over the Bulldogs in Tempe a year ago. Brown, alongside backs Raleek Brown and Kanye Udoh, is hoping for the same success as the former ASU great.
“We did some good things (against NAU),” Brown said. “I think we were explosive and made some plays, and that was just a little taste of what we can really do. I think we’ve got one of the best backfields, if not the best backfield, in the country. We’re going to be able to show that. We’ve got a lot of guys that can do a lot of things, and I’m very confident in us and myself.”
Brown admitted the Bulldogs recruited him, but never offered him a spot on the team.
“That’s a little chip on my shoulder for sure,” Brown said.
Against the team he grew up watching, Brown has the chance to make his mark as the leader of the backfield in Tempe, with his roots in attendance.
“I’m absolutely ready to go, ready to see my family, ready to play at that stadium,” he said. “I remember going to those games as a little kid, so it’s going to be fun to be in that environment, seeing my family and getting to ball out.”
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