McDonald, Hobbs Honored by Conference
12/5/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 5, 2002
Conference USA announced its 2002 Players of the Year today, as selected by the head football coaches and media members in each conference city. The league concludes its seventh regular season this weekend when Cincinnati visits East Carolina on Friday night and Army faces Navy at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands on Saturday afternoon.
After helping his team to the No. 2 overall ranking in Division I-A, the Defensive Player of the Year award went to TCU senior LB LaMarcus McDonald. He leads the league with 28 tackles for loss, registering a total of 113 tackles (73 solo), which ranks fifth in the conference. McDonald is second in the league in sacks with 10 and has recovered three fumbles. He led TCU in tackles in 10 of 11 games this season to help the unit to the top national ranking in rushing defense (62.9 yards per game) en route to the AXA Liberty Bowl.
Running back Lonta Hobbs of TCU was named the league's Freshman of the Year. The true freshman took his redshirt off for the Houston game on October 5 and proceeded to set new school freshman records for rushing yards (952) and touchdowns (12). Hobbs averaged a league-best 6.9 yards per carry and lost just 12 yards on 137 attempts. His yardage total ranks sixth in C-USA despite not playing in the first four games and he closed out the year with five straight 100-yard games.
Louisville senior quarterback Dave Ragone became the first player in league history to win an individual award in three consecutive seasons, earning the league's Offensive Player of the Year Award. It marks the fourth straight year that a Cardinal quarterback has won the award (Chris Redman in 1999). Ragone has completed nearly 55 percent of his passes for 2,687 yards and a conference-best 23 touchdowns in helping U of L to its fifth consecutive bowl appearance. Ragone leads the league in pass efficiency (125.9) and is second in total offense (242.0 yards per game). The all-time winningest quarterback in Louisville history, Ragone enters his final collegiate game at the GMAC Bowl vs. Marshall having thrown for 8,371 yards and 73 touchdowns in three years as a starter.
Louisville's Broderick Clark, a redshirt freshman, was named as the league's special Teams Player of the Year after leading the nation in kick return average (34.1). Clark matched both the school and league marks with a pair of returns for scores, including a league-record 100-yard scamper against Kentucky in the season opener, en route to first team all-conference and all freshman laurels as a return man. Clark heads into the GMAC Bowl needing only 74 yards to claim the school record for kick return yards in a season and 34 yards to claim the league mark.
