College Sports Journal FBS Group of Five National Players of the Week-Oct. 8

Five players including Jordan Cronkrite from USF, Josh Adkins from New Mexico State, Nathan Rourke from Ohio, Darren Hall from San Diego State, and Kerrith Whyte, Jr. from Florida Atlantic have been selected as the College Sports Journal All-Stars for the week ending Oct. 8, 2018 from the NCAA Division I FBS Group of Five schools.

The honorees are listed here with their achievements and their school, position, class, and hometown.

Jordan Cronkrite, RB, USF, Jr.,Miami, Fla.
Cronkrite set the American Athletic Conference single-game rushing record, as well as USF’s team record, with a 302-yard, three-touchdown performance in the Bulls’ 58-42 win at Massachusetts. Cronkrite had touchdown runs of 77, 30 and 76 yards, all in the third quarter, to help USF break open what had been a six-point halftime lead. Cronkrite increased his season rushing average to 151.5 yards per game, good for third nationally.

Josh Adkins, QB, New Mexico State, R-Fr., Spring Branch, Tex.
Adkins threw for 402 yards and four touchdowns on 34-51 passing in the Aggies’ 49-42 win over Liberty. All four of his touchdowns were to different receivers. It was the first time an Aggie quarterback threw for over 400 yards since Tyler Rogers did last December versus South Alabama.

Nathan Rourke, QB, Ohio, Jr., Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Rourke scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:28 for a 27-26 win at Kent State. Rourke completed 18-of-20 passes, setting an Ohio record for completion percentage in a single-game by completing 90 percent of his attempts. Rourke threw for 284 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also added 49 yards and a touchdown on the ground on 15 rushing attempts.

Darren Hall, CB, San Diego State, R-Fr., Pasadena, Calif.
Hall led an Aztec defense that limited Boise State to only 13 points in a road victory (19-13). SDSU also held the Broncos to 229 yards of total offense, their fewest since Aug. 31, 2012 against Michigan State. Hecorded a career-best nine tackles, including one sack, a forced fumble and an interception. In Hall’s first defensive snap of the contest, picked off a pass and returned it nine yards to the Broncos 24-yard line. This led to a SDSU field goal, giving the Aztecs a 3-0 lead. He also knocked Boise State out of field goal range with his first collegiate sack late in the first half.

Kerrith Whyte, Jr., KR/RB, Florida Atlantic, Jr., Loxahatchee, Fla.
Whyte had a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the FAU victory against Old Dominion. In the history of Owl football, there had been just one kick return for a score and that was accomplished nearly a year ago by Kerrith Whyte, Jr. On Saturday, the redshirt junior duplicated the feat with the program’s longest kick return of 100 yards in the win over Old Dominion. The scoring return could not have come at a better time for the Owls as it followed the Monarchs drawing within five (26-21) with 6:08 remaining in the third. It took just 13 seconds to put the Owls back up by 13 points and shift the momentum back to FAU. Whyte, who had just the one kickoff return, tallied a game-high 186 all-purpose yards with two scores and is just the second C-USA player in 2018 to return a kickoff for a touchdown.