German champion Braunschweig New Yorker Lions re-sign league’s top RB, Chris McClendon

The Braunschweig New Yorker Lions, Europe’s #1 team, have re-signed the league’s top running back as Chris McClendon will return for his third season with the Lions and fifth overall in the German Football League.

The 6′, 225 lb McClendon, a native of Rixey, Arkansas, led the league in rushing this past season carrying the ball 274 times for 1,937 yards and 24 touchdowns. This was the third season he finished as the rushing leader in the German Football League. He topped all running backs for two years in a row while with the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes amassing a total of over 4,000 yards in 2016 and 2017.

He powered his way to the rushing lead in 2019 with a string of amazing days carrying the ball including a 245 yard rushing game in a 70-14 win over the Dusseldorf Panther and a 182 yard game when the Lions overwhelmed the Stuttgart Scorpions 70-3.

His 2018 season with Braunschweig was cut short due to injury which had hobbled him, limiting him to 687 yards in si games.

McClendon was the runaway rushing leader in the German Football League in 2017 while playing for the Hurricanes, rushing for 2,312 yards on 297 carries (7.8 yards per carry) and 21 touchdowns. He also caught 18 passes for 198 yards and four touchdowns. He was a key reason for the Hurricanes success. In one game against the Cologne Crocodiles two years ago, McClendon rushed for six touchdowns.

McClendon joined the Hurricanes in 2016 and made an immediate impact gaining 1,700 yards and averaging 113 yards a game. At college, he played for Oklahoma Panhandle State University  (NCAA Div. II). McClendon topped off his college career with 1,254 rushing yards on 171 carries for 15 touchdowns; he also added 146 receiving yards and 134 punt return yards for an all-purpose total of over 1,500 offensive yards for the 2015 season.