Reynolds Honored Yet Again
12/11/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 11, 2002
University of Houston senior running back Joffrey Reynolds (Tyler, Texas) was named Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year by College Football News. Reynolds, along with junior offensive lineman Rex Hadnot (Lufkin, Texas) and senior free safety Hanik Milligan (N. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), also were selected to the CFN All-Conference USA Team.
The postseason awards keep rolling in for Reynolds, as the three-year starter won Honorable Mention, All-America honors yesterday. Reynolds rushed for a Conference USA-best 1,545 yards and 11 touchdowns on 316 attempts en route to his being selected to the 2002 Conference USA First Team. His rushing total broke the one-year-old record of 1,432 set by East Carolina's Leonard Henry in 2001. Reynolds also set the C-USA mark for 100-yard rushing games in a season with eight, and his 300 yards rushing against East Carolina last month not only set a UH single-mark, but it also broke the existing C-USA mark.
Reynolds 316 attempts set a UH record and his yardage was the third-best in school history behind the 1,757 posted by Robert Newhouse in 1971 and Paul Gipson's 1,550 yards set in 1968. Reynolds concluded his career with 2,947 yards rushing, which ranks him third all-time in league history behind UH's Ketric Sanford (3,636 yards, 1996-99) and ECU's Henry (3,089). With 149 yards rushing against Louisville in the season finale, Reynolds recorded the 13th 100-yard performance of his UH career, placing him fifth all-time in school?s history books.
Like Reynolds, Milligan also was a first-team league selection earlier this month, concluding his UH career as one of the most prolific tacklers in school history and capping off his senior season with 149 tackles, seven pass breakups, five forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and an interception. A member of both the Jim Thorpe Award and Bronko Nagurski Trophy "Watch Lists," Milligan started in 34 straight games for the Cougars and posted at 10 tackles in 23 of those games. As a matter of fact, Milligan had a nation's best 21 straight games with double-digit tackles stretching over two seasons.
A 2001 All C-USA Second Team selection, Milligan concluded his career with 409 total tackles in just three seasons, which ranks him number-three all-time in that category. He also finishes in the Top 10 in solo tackles (236), assists (173), pass breakups (20) and fumble recoveries (5).
As a part of the nation's biggest offensive line, Hadnot opened rushing lanes for Reynolds and provided the pass protection for the Cougar quarterbacks, as Houston generated 26.7 points and 392.8 yards of total offense per game. The Cougars finished second in the conference in total offense behind Cincinnati, while the rushing attack also was ranked second behind TCU (203.7) at 170.2 yards per game.
Hadnot began the year as the Cougars starting left guard, but the two-year starter moved to the center position midway through the season with the season-ending injury to Al James. Hadnot--who has started 23 consecutive games--allowed only one sack all season and graded out at 89 percent on the season while setting UH offensive line marks for pancake blocks (160), knockdown blocks (196) and ESPN blocks (122.)
TCU picked up two of the other CFN postseason awards, as linebacker LaMarcus McDonald was the Defensive Player of the Year, while running back Lonta Hobbs grabbed Freshman of the Year accolades. Tulane head coach Chris Scelfo was named CFN Coach of the Year.
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