Lakota West, Shroder grads win Enquirer local college football players of the week

Voting on The Enquirer’s local college football player of the week has closed with a pair of Week 4 winners announced.

Lakota West graduate Josh Fussell, a defensive back at Northwestern, wins in the Division I category with about 45% of the vote. Running back Kai Smith, a Shroder graduate playing at Wilmington College, is the winner in the small school category with about 53% of the vote.

Fussell is just a redshirt freshman, but he’s already found himself playing a major role in the Northwestern defense. Last week, in just his third collegiate game, he had five tackles and a pass defended in the Wildcats’ 24-5 loss to Washington. Fussell was a four-year varsity letter-winner at Lakota West, where he recorded 72 tackles, 19 pass breakups and nine interceptions during his career. As a junior, he led the Greater Miami Conference with six interceptions. ESPN rated him the No. 33 player in Ohio in the class of 2023 when he committed to Northwestern on May 19, 2022.

Smith, a freshman, had a game to remember last weekend against Muskingum. On 14 carries, he gained 179 yards and a touchdown in the Quakers’ 42-13 loss. Through three games this season, Smith is leading Quakers with 252 rushing yards (11.3 yards per carry) and two rushing touchdowns. Interestingly, his best game as a high schooler came in 2022 against West Muskingum. In that game, a 56-14 loss for Shroder, Smith carried 19 times for 206 yards and two touchdowns.

Check back on Monday morning for instructions to vote on next week’s Enquirer local college football players of the week.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Josh Fussell, Kai Smith named Week 4 college football players of week

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/lakota-west-shroder-grads-win-223754852.html

Author : Cincinnati.com | The Enquirer

Publish date : 2024-09-27 22:37:54

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