By Charlie Leffler
Coming into this season U of L head football coach John L. Smith said that his team would be playing with a target on their backs because they won the conference last year. After Thursday’s Conference Awards announcement it could be said that the Cards hit the bulls eye.
On Thursday morning Conference USA announced that sophomore defensive end Dewayne White and junior quarterback Dave Ragone were both named the leagues defensive and offensive players of the year. But the awards did not stop there. Smith was also named coach of the year for second season in a row. The awards mark the first time in C-USA history that a single school has claimed all three awards in one year. Smith and Ragone return from winning the same awards last season.
Yet, those were not the only honors that the team garnered this week. On Wednesday, C-USA announced it’s All-Conference teams, placing eight Cardinal players on the first team out of a possible 25-positions. No other conference team placed more than three players on the first team. Three other players were named to the second team. Joining Ragone on the offensive squad were senior offensive lineman Aaron Dardzinski, senior wide receiver Deion Branch and junior tight end Ronnie Ghent. White is joined on the defensive squad by junior defensive lineman Michael Josiah and junior defensive back Anthony Floyd. Senior Zek Parker was named as the first team return specialist. Senior offensive lineman Rob Eble, junior defensive back Curry Burns and freshman defensive back Lonnie Gallishaw were named to the conference second team. In addition Gallishaw and defenisve lineman Bobby Leffew were named to the All-freshman team.
Smith joins Southern Miss’ Jeff Bower as the only C-USA coach to win the award twice, yet Smith is the first to win it in consecutive years. Smith has coached his team to a No. 22 national ranking and set a new school record for wins in a two-year period.
“I think it’s flattering,” said Smith. “I think it speaks more highly of your staff and I’ve always said that. It’s not a one person award. It’s a coaching staff award. Our staff deserves it. They’ve worked hard. As the players deserve what they got.”
Ragone joins Tulane’s Shaun King as the only two-time winner of the offensive player of the year award and give Louisville the award in three consecutive years as quarterback Chris Redman won in 1999. Ragone has led the Cardinals to a 19-4 record over the past two seasons as a starter and a 12-2 record in conference play. He led the conference with 3,056 yards of total offense, (260.2 ypg) passing touchdowns (23) and passing efficiency (143.5) and established a league record for lowest interception percentage with only seven picks in 383 attempts.
“It’s a great honor,” said Ragone. “It’s something I can tell my kids about.” Yet, the quarterback said that the award is not his alone to receive. “It’s more of an offensive honor,” said Ragone. “Deion Branch, Zek Parker, Ronnie Ghent make the catches and run with it and the line blocks it up. I’m more the recipient of the award but it’s more of an overall offensive achievement.”
Though White is only a sophomore he moved into fourth place on both Louisville’s and C-USA’s career sack list with a league record tying 15 sacks. White led all C-USA defensive linemen with 86 tackles, including 73 solo stops and a school record 24 tackles for loss.
“I was surprised that we swept them,” said White. “I didn’t think that I was going to get it. Normally they give it to juniors or seniors.” White thought that ECU linebacker Pernell Griffin would win the award over him. The award is even more impressive for White considering that he came to Louisville out of high school as a running back “I just wanted to come up here and be the best player that I could be,” said White. “It didn’t matter where I played. I just wanted to get on the field and play somewhere.”
While Ragone said that a sweep of the awards was impressive he was not so sure that he himself deserved such an honor. “I knew Dewayne White was a shoe-in,” said Ragone, “he had a great year. And coach Smith is of course the best, but I thought Leonard Henry would probably get it. He’s deserving of it.”
Though the offensive player of the year award was most likely a close decision between Ragone and the ECU running back the balance was most likely swung Ragone’s way due to the fact that he guided his team to a first place finish against great adversity. The Cards suffered through several games where they were missing key receivers due to injury and still Ragone led them to victory.
“It’s been a trying year,” said Ragone. “You kind of go into games with only one bullet instead of six, but we find a way to win. I turned into a running back one game and just started running the ball. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do sometimes.”
The Cards next play against BYU in the Liberty Bowl in Dec. 31.
