Knowshon Moreno (Image: Hipple)
With yesterday's announcement that Knowshon Moreno was named SEC Freshman of the Week for the second time this season, I think he moves into the front runner spot for overall SEC Freshman of the Year status.
His current stats include:
-- 619 yards rushing (88.4 yards/game) and 3 TDs
-- 15 receptions for 195 yards and 0 TDs
From skimming the latest SEC Stats, his chief competition for top SEC honors appears to be
Terry Grant (RB) from Alabama. Grant has 593 yards rushing with 6 TDs, and he has 12 receptions for 92 yards with no TDs via the air. The biggest difference in their numbers appears to be the fact that Moreno has been accelerating while Grant's numbers have slowed a bit since a very fast start.
With Thomas Brown still nicked up and Lumpkin likely out for the season, Moreno should get the ball in the end zone more often. That's the only hole in his resume so far.
Nationally:
The two backs are fourth and fifth nationally among freshman rushers behind some dude at Idaho that you've never heard of, LeSean McCoy at Pittsburgh and Harvey Unga at BYU. (Source: NCAA). Moreno and Grant are on better teams, and they will both have bigger stages to try and earn first team All-American honors among runners.
At other positions, Michael Crabtree (WR) at Texas Tech will win every overall national freshman of the year award. He already has 78 catches, 1244 yards and 17 TDs. As a point of comparison, all of those would be career records at Georgia, and he has roughly half the season left. Any award nationally that Crabtree doesn't win will go to Sam Bradford (QB) at Oklahoma.
PWD
