Football Southern Conference

SoCon Names Football Players of the Week, Oct. 14, 2002

SPARTANBURG, SC - The Southern Conference today named its football players of the week for games played on Saturday, October 12. Georgia Southern quarterback Chaz Williams was named the Offensive Player of the Week, defensive end Josh Jeffries of Appalachian State was named the Defensive Player of the Week and VMI slotback Gary Price earned Freshman of the Week.

Williams, a 5-10, 210-pound sophomore from Apopka, FL, amassed 327 yards of total offense and accounted for five of Georgia Southern's six touchdowns in a 41-24 win at Western Carolina. Williams rushed for a career-high 171 yards and two touchdowns while completing six of 10 passes for a career-high 156 yards and three scores. His scoring runs came from one and three yards out while his touchdown passes came on three consecutive tosses to Derrick Owens for 62 yards, T.J. Anderson for 40 yards and 26 yards again to Owens.

Jeffries, a 6-2, 255-pound senior defensive end from Rougemont, NC and a candidate for the Buck Buchanan Award this season, had a complete performance with nine tackles, eight of them solos, three tackles for loss and a quarterback sack against Furman. Jeffries' tackles for loss totaled 11 yards while his sack boosted his season total to 5.5 and his career sack total to 31. He will be most remembered for his interception of a Furman PAT pass in which he lateraled the ball to Derrick Black who returned it for a defensive two-point conversion which gave Appalachian a 16-15 win over Furman. Jeffries' interception and lateral was highlighted as the number two play of the day by ESPN's College GameDay and the number six play on Chris Berman's Plays of the Week.

Price, a 5-10, 170-pound freshman slotback from Woodbridge, VA, had six receptions for 65 yards including a four-yard touchdown catch in a 27-16 win over #18 Wofford. Price also recovered a fumble on a kickoff return in the second quarter that led to a VMI touchdown and he also had a critical 27-yard reception on another scoring drive.

Also receiving strong consideration for Offensive Player of the Week were VMI quarterback Joey Gibson who threw for 210 yards and rushed for 71 in the win over Wofford, Citadel running back Nehemiah Broughton who rushed for 99 yards and two touchdowns to help the Bulldogs to a win over East Tennessee State, and Furman's Bear Rinehart who had eight receptions for 84 yards and a touchdown against Appalachian State. On the defensive side, The Citadel's Cliff Washburn received consideration after recording eight tackles including four quarterback sacks against ETSU. Other contenders for the Freshman of the Week honor were ASU's Brad West who had nine tackles against Furman, and Wofford's Jim Thurman who made nine stops against VMI.