Great news, and congratulations to Williams and the team.
Anyone know when we last had a ROW in football?
Congrats to Johnny!
From DSI rerlease -
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke wide receiver Johnny Williams has been named the ACC Rookie of the Week following an 11-reception, 135-yard performance in the Blue Devils' 24-20 loss to Northwestern this past Saturday night.
Williams, a native of St. Stephens, Ala., caught nine of his game-high 11 passes in the second half with five of his grabs providing first downs for the Duke offense. The 135-yard outing is the second-highest single-game total by a Duke freshman, trailing only Walter Jones' 139-yard total versus The Citadel in 1988. In addition, the 11 receptions are the most by a freshman nationally in 2008.
For the season, Williams leads the Blue Devils in both receptions (13) and receiving yards (154) and ranks second in the ACC in receptions per game (6.5) and tied for fifth in the league in receiving yards per game (77.0).
The league's other weekly award winners including Wake Forest's Riley Skinner (Offensive Back) and Sam Swank (Specialist), Georgia Tech's Darryl Richard (Defensive Lineman), Florida State's Rodney Hudson (Offensive Lineman) and N.C. State's Nate Irving (Defensive Back).
Great news, and congratulations to Williams and the team.
Anyone know when we last had a ROW in football?
"Just like you man. I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase." Omar Little
Speed Kills!!!! How fast does this kid run the 40?
Congrats to Johnny! Is this the first since Spurrier?
Last Rookie of the Week was Ben Bennett, 1980.
Last ACC Player of the Year: Robert Baldwin, 1994
Last ACC Coach of the Year: Fred Goldsmith, 1994 (Only three Duke coaches have been named ACC Coach of the Year: Bill Murray (3 times), Steve Spurrier (2 times) and Fred Goldsmith (1 time).
Congrats, Johnny!
Whew! I hate to think we could be that disrespected.
The information to which I had quickest access included awards based on a year's performance rather than a week's performance.
No matter how we analyze the situation, it's been far too long since Duke has had freshmen or other players being recognized for their performance in football. I look upon this recognition accorded to Johnny Williams as another step in turning the program around. It's exciting each week to see what improvements and changes occur.
I missed that. But I sure hope we can get a full house on Saturday to see and feel the difference in this year's team.
What makes this even nicer is taking some of the pressure off Eron Riley. Perhaps he'll see less double coverage now.
Cut had an interesting reaction to this yesterday. He certainly wasn't dismissive but he pointed out that JW fell down one time when he had a likely TD, dropped a pass, ran a few less than precise routes and stated that maybe Williams would have been national player of the week had he made fewer mistakes.
I suppose one can draw several different conclusions from this but it seems to me that this disinclination to rest on one's laurels will lead to positive results down the road.
Here is my latest blurb on Williams with quotes from Cut and Thad.
http://bluedevilnation.net/