2005 Football Awards

2005 Football Awards

MSNsportsNET.com January 15, 2006 CSTV All-ACCESS: BANQUET VIDEO Lorello MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A total of 32 players were honored at the 2006 West Virginia University football banquet held Saturday night at the MountainLair Ball Room on the downtown campus in Morgantown. By a vote of his teammates, senior safety Mike Lorello was named team MVP. The Powell, Ohio, resident led the team with 82 tackles and also produced seven tackles for losses, three sacks, three interceptions and seven pass breakups. “I’m really proud of our seniors,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “The fifth-year seniors were here off a 3-8 season, but yet they kept holding the rope. It’s nice to start their end with a Sugar Bowl win and a Top-10 ranking.” Rodriguez believes this is the best team he’s been involved with as a player and coach, but he stopped short of calling it the best in school history. “It’s probably not fair for me to judge that,” he said. “Other than the four teams I played on in the early ‘80s and the five I’ve coached at West Virginia, obviously this team has achieved more than any I’ve been involved with as a player and a coach. Where it ranks in history? It’s hard to say.” Other award winners announced by the coaching staff include: Ira Rodgers Award (Jeff Noechel and Garin Justice); John Russell Award (Ernest Hunter and Dan Mozes); Gridiron Gladiator Award (Owen Schmitt, Kevin McLee and Jeremy Sheffey); Ideal Mountaineer Award (Jay Henry, Jahmile Addae, Marc Magro and George Shehl); Whitey Gwynne Award (Anthony Mims and Phil Brady); Scott Shirley Special Teams Award (Thandi Smith); Coaches Contribution Award (Steve Slaton, Tim Lindsey, Brandon Myles, Pat White, Eric Wicks, Antonio Lewis and Keilen Dykes); Captains Award (Jahmile Addae, Mike Lorello, Ernest Hunter and Garin Justice); Danny Van Etten Award (Nate Sowers, Mike Poitier, Sam Morrone, Justin Knapp and James Ingram); Special Teams Award (Ovid Goulbourne). “Obviously we thought we had some talented guys this year – you don’t know how fast they are going to learn,” said Rodriguez of his young team. “The exciting part is that their best football is way ahead of them.” West Virginia finished the 2005 campaign 11-1, capturing its first major bowl victory in school history by defeating SEC champion Georgia, 38-35 in the Nokia Sugar Bowl in Atlanta on Jan. 2, 2006. The Mountaineers finished ranked fifth in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll and sixth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. “The biggest thing is that for our guys staying hungry and knowing what they have got to do to achieve their goals,” said Rodriguez. “We still have a lot of things in our program that we can get better at and hopefully we’ll address those over the next couple of months or the next year or two.” An edited version of the two-hour banquet can be viewed on CSTV All-Access.