CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Western Carolina junior running back Detrez Newsome was today named the STATS FCS Special Teams Player of the Week following his outstanding performance in last Saturday’s season finale at South Carolina. Newsome broke a nine-year old conference record with 240 kickoff return yards including a 93-yard return for a touchdown against the bowl-eligible Gamecocks as a part of a school-record 365 all-purpose yards.
The national award is the second by a Catamount football player this season as Freshman of the Year candidate, Tyrie Adams, garnered the top rookie weekly plaudits back in mid-September. It is the second-time this season that Newsome has garnered a weekly award as he earned top offensive honors from the SoCon back on Oct. 31.
Weekly honor selections are made by STATS from nominations submitted by the media relations office of each FCS school.
Newsome’s 240 kickoff return yards surpassed the previous Southern Conference and school benchmark of 229 set by former Catamount Mike Malone against Furman back in 2007. This year, Newsome led the SoCon by averaging 24.2 yards per kickoff return, while ranking second in the league with 970 total return yards – the ninth-best, single-season in the conference record books and fourth-best season in program history. He recorded his second career kickoff return for a touchdown with his 93-yard, fourth quarter score that cut the South Carolina lead to 10, 41-31.
In addition to his performance on special teams, Newsome posted his third-straight, 100-yard rushing performance over the past two years against a team from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) by gaining 115 yards on the ground including a 39-yard touchdown romp. Last season, Newsome rushed for 128 yards at Tennessee and posted 111 yards on the ground at Texas A&M. Saturday marked his 11th career, 100-yard rushing performance – a total that ranks him fifth in program history.
Newsome scored his individual single-season best 10th rushing touchdown at South Carolina, a 39-yard first quarter romp that gave him 28 rushing scores for his Catamount career – a stat that ranks him third all-time. He finished the regular season with a SoCon-leading 92 points including 15 touchdowns and a two-point conversion in the USC game, averaging 8.4 points per game – tied for tops in the league.
Newsome’s efforts in Columbia propelled him to his second-straight, 1,000-yard rushing season becoming just the third Catamount to accomplish the feat since 1967. Newsome finished the year with 1,031 yards on the ground – the eighth-best, single-season performance in program history. He joins former Catamount greats Darrell Lipford (1,074 yards in 1976 and 1,318 yards in 1977) and Brad Hoover (1,663 yards in 1998 and 1,025 yards) as the only WCU running backs to record consecutive, 1,000-yard campaigns.
A product of Raeford, N.C., Newsome was one of three backs in the SoCon to eclipse the 1,000-yard barrier this year – and the only one not in a run-oriented option offensive attack. He finished his junior season ranked fourth in the WCU career ledgers with 2,628 rushing yards, just 1,461 shy of all-time record holder, Darrell Lipford (4,089 yards, 1974-77).
Also, for the second time this season, Newsome eclipsed the 300 all-purpose yard mark, twice rewriting WCU’s record books. All told, Newsome amassed a program-record 365 all-purpose yards against South Carolina, breaking his own benchmark of 347 set earlier this year against playoff contender, Chattanooga. Newsome, who led both the SoCon and the NCAA in all-purpose yards with a 213.0 yard per game average, has recorded 100-or-more all-purpose yards in 25 career games including 14-consecutive dating back to last season.