The University of Rhode Island football team rushed for a total of 220 yards against the University of New Hampshire on Oct. 11 — over half of those yards came from fifth-year running back Brendon Barrow.

Entering the game against New Hampshire, Barrow had 80 rushing yards in his entire collegiate career and zero touchdowns. Barrow finished the game with 111 rushing yards, surpassing his collegiate total by 31 in just a single game.

With less than a minute remaining in the first half, Barrow broke off a 28-yard run for his first career touchdown to give URI a 17-14 lead. In the second half, Barrow barreled his way into the end zone for a second time on a 19-yard run to get the Rams within a field goal and make it a 27-24 game.

Fourth-year quarterback Devin Farrell had a 16-yard rush for a touchdown to put URI on top 31-27 before second-year Rohan Davy sealed the game with a fumble return, as URI went on to win the game 38-27.

The Stanford University transfer had a huge impact on the game with 122 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns. Despite the fact Barrow had under 100 yards in his collegiate career and zero career touchdowns entering the game, his breakout was no surprise to the URI coaching staff. With Barrow missing the beginning of the season due to injury, they were eager for the opportunity to get him involved.

“We’ve been waiting for him,” URI Head Coach Jim Fleming said. “He’s had hamstring issues from training camp all the way through, and so we’ve known what he’s been able to do. We’ve just been waiting for him to be healthy.”

Barrow has been on the gridiron since he was a little kid. He said he always had big dreams and a lot of motivation, largely due to his brother, Will, who was a defensive back at the University of Tulsa from 2013 to 2016.

“I started football at a really young age because of my older brother,” Barrow said in an interview at Stanford. “As a younger sibling, you always want to be better than your older sibling at whatever they do, and that kind of pushed me a lot as a young kid.”

Barrow is originally from Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. Barrow worked his way up the rankings to become the top running back and fifth-ranked overall player in the country, according to Canada Football Chat.

From there, Barrow headed about 1,350 miles south to Clearwater, Florida, where he played at Clearwater Academy International. Barrow was ranked the No. 81 player in Florida by PrepStar and finally committed to the school he had his eyes on since he was a little kid.

“I’ve actually dreamed about going to Stanford since the age of five,” Barrow said in the Stanford interview. “When I first stepped on campus, it was probably the most beautiful campus I’ve ever seen.”

Although Barrow was attending his dream school, he wasn’t achieving his dream on the field. After not appearing in the 2023 or 2024 season, Barrow decided to enter the transfer portal.

Fourth-year URI defensive back Tremel States-Jones found out that his former Clearwater Academy International teammate was in the portal. Jones put his recruiter hat on and gave Barrow a call.

“He kind of just brought me up to speed and then said it might be a great fit for me,” Barrow said. “He said I should probably just take a visit, and then literally right after [URI Offensive Coordinator Mike Flanagan] hit me up, sold me the dream a little bit, had me come out a week later and [it’s] history from there.”

Barrow is looking to carry the momentum from his breakout game into Saturday’s matchup against Bryant University.

“Great kid, great attitude, dying to get back out there,” Fleming said. “He’s got a couple of knicks and knacks we’re trying to take care of, but he’ll be there for us Saturday.”

Saturday’s game against Bryant is at 1 p.m. The game will stream on FloSports, with radio broadcasts also available on WRIU and The Varsity Network.

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