Football: Cajuns’ Fenroy is top freshman on All-Louisiana

Football: Cajuns’ Fenroy is top freshman on All-Louisiana

From staff reports

The improvement of the University of Louisiana’s ground game wasn’t lost on the voters on the 2005 All-Louisiana Collegiate Football Team announced Friday by the La. Sports Writers Association.
Junior offensive tackle Brandon Cox and freshman running back Tyrell Fenroy were each first-team selections on the squad, and Fenroy was also selected in a runaway vote as the team’s Freshman of the Year.

Senior center and offensive line mate Greg Hodges was selected to the second team by a panel of LSWA voters representing reach of the state’s football-playing schools.

Players were nominated by each school’s sports information offices.
Senior defensive end Eugene Kwarteng was the Ragin’ Cajuns’ other selection, earning honorable mention honors on the defensive line. Cajun fourth-year coach Rickey Bustle finished fourth in the balloting for Coach of the Year.

That group helped lead the Cajuns to their first conference title since the Sun Belt Conference began football in the 2001 season and the first league crown of any type since a Big West Conference co-championship in 1994.

The 6-5 record was also UL’s first winning mark since 1995, and the team’s five-game win streak to end the season was the longest since that same season.

Joining Fenroy among the top honorees was Grambling quarterback Bruce Eugene and coach Melvin Spears, honored as Offensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year after leading the Tigers to the SWAC title.

LSU defensive tackle Kyle Williams, a second-team All-America pick, was named Defensive Player of the Year and Nicholls State running back Joseph Tobias was the Newcomer of the Year.

Fenroy was also the Sun Belt’s Freshman of the Year after rushing for 1053 yards and 12 touchdowns to go with a 5.9 average per carry and a 95.7 average per game. The LaPlace and St. Charles Catholic product had only 58 yards in UL’s first two games before taking over as a starter, and became the first Cajun running back ever to top 1,000 yards in a season.

He ranked 39th nationally in rushing and was fifth among freshmen, and his 12 rushing scores ranked third nationally among first-year players.

Cox, a product of Irving, Texas, and Nimitz High, and Hodges, out of Rockwall, Texas, and Rockwall High, were the up-front catalysts to UL’s meteoric rise up the national rushing charts. The two three-year starters helped the Cajuns set school records for rushing yards with 2,797 – more than 500 yards more than the old mark – and average per game at 254.27. UL’s 34 rushing touchdown was also far and away a school standard.

Entering the bowl season, the Cajuns ranked seventh nationally in rushing and had the biggest yardage increase (1,117) among the top 10 team rushers after getting 1,680 yards on the ground last year.

Kwarteng, a native of Ghana and a product of Mabank, Texas, and Eustace High, led UL’s defensive line with 43 tackles during the season including 28 solos and a team-high seven tackles for minus yardage. He also tied for the team lead with four quarterback sacks.

Other locals named to the team were New Iberia product Joey Trappey and Cecilia’s Joel Stelly, both of UL Monroe and the first-team tight end and punter respectively.

Originally published December 24, 2005