— By Bill Cornwell
Not long after eight Marshall football players received first-team All-Conference USA honors, two Herd standouts received additional individual honors.
The league named sophomore MU running back Brenden Knox as its Most Valuable Player and senior placekicker Justin Rohrwasser was honored as C-USA Special Teams Player of the Year.
The picks were made the league’s 14 head coaches.
Knox became the second sophomore and second running back to be named the league’s MVP since the award was instituted in 2008. He leads C-USA with 1,284 rushing yards through the first 12 games, an average of 107 per game. Knox has also rushed for 11 touchdowns.
His yardage total is the eighth-best in program history and 16th-best among all FBS players this season. Knox was been even better against league foes in 2019, averaging 123.5 yards against C-USA competition with seven scores in eight games. In 17 career games with the Herd, he has 1,862 yards (109.5 per game) and 15 TDs.
Rohrwasser’s honor was the first time a placekicker has won the award since 2005. He has the top field goal percentage in C-USA at .850, connecting on 17-of-20 field goal attempts this season.
Rohrwasser is also 33-of-34 on extra-point attempts, giving him 85 points on the year.
He produced 15 of his 17 field goals in conference games, while connecting on all 19 PATs in league play.
Other Conference USA award winners were: Western Kentucky’s Tyson Helton as Coach of the Year; WKU junior defensive end DeAngelo Malone as Defensive Player of the Year; Louisiana Tech senior quarterback J’Mar Smith as Offensive Player of the Year; UTSA running back Sincere McCormick as Freshman of the Year; and Western Kentucky graduate transfer quarterback as Newcomer of the Year.