Oct. 20, 2008
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Tim Jefferson and Ryan Harrison (Air Force), Rodney Ferguson (New Mexico) and Jerry Hughes (TCU) are Mountain West Conference Players of the Week for games through Oct. 19. Jefferson and Ferguson share Offensive Player of the Week honors, while Hughes garners the Defensive Player award and Harrison receives Special Teams recognition. This marks the second career weekly accolade each for Harrison, Ferguson and Hughes and the first for Jefferson.
Ferguson is the second Lobo to earn the weekly award in 2008, joining freshman kicker James Aho (twice). The Albuquerque Manzano product was also named MWC Player of the Week on Oct. 29 last year after his performance against Air Force. Lobo running backs have captured 10 MWC Offensive Player of the Week awards since 2000.
CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Rodney Ferguson, NEW MEXICO
Senior, Tailback, Albuquerque, N.M./Manzano HS
Rodney Ferguson had 25 carries for 149 yards and a career-high tying four touchdowns in the Lobos’ 70-7 victory over San Diego State. Playing a little more than half the game, Ferguson posted his 14th career 100-yard rushing game, scoring on runs of 4, 4, 5 and 35 yards to tie the MWC record for most rushing touchdowns by a senior. The Albuquerque, N.M. product helped lead a Lobo rushing attack that matched an MWC record with eight rushing touchdowns while gaining 419 yards on the ground, the highest rushing total by a New Mexico squad in 11 years.
TIM JEFFERSON, AIR FORCE
Freshman, Quarterback, Atlanta, Ga./Woodward Academy
Tim Jefferson completed 6-of-7 passes for a career-high 162 yards and two touchdowns while helping Air Force to a 29-28 win at UNLV. The true freshman quarterback also rushed for a career-best 99 yards on a career-high 13 carries to finish with 261 yards total offense. Jefferson, a native of Atlanta, Ga., picked up first downs on eight of his carries, including once on a fourth-and-two and six times on third down. With Air Force trailing 28-26 midway through the fourth quarter, Jefferson engineered a 17-play, 91-yard drive that took 7:03 off the clock and led to the game-winning field goal with 2:36 left to play.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
JERRY HUGHES, TCU
Junior, Defensive End, Sugar Land, Texas/Austin HS
Jerry Hughes recorded four sacks (-14 yards) and two forced fumbles while heading up then No. 24 TCU’s defensive effort in a 32-7 win over then No. 8 BYU. The four sacks tied an MWC single-game record and were just short of TCU’s single-game mark of 4.5. Hughes, who hails from Sugar Land, Texas, had three first-half sacks, sparking TCU to a 23-0 halftime lead. He finished with five total stops in the game as the Horned Frogs defense held BYU to season-lows of 23 yards rushing and 297 yards total offense.
SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
RYAN HARRISON, AIR FORCE
Senior, Punter/Kicker, Keller, Texas/Keller HS
Ryan Harrison matched his career-high with three field goals in Air Force’s win over UNLV, including a 19-yard game-winning kick with 2:36 left to play. His other field goals came from 26 and 23 yards to give him a 13-of-15 completion rate on the season. Harrison, a native of Keller, Texas, also punted once in the game, hitting a 40-yard punt that was downed inside the 20 yard line, and kicked off seven times, pinning UNLV inside its own 20 yard line.