Nov. 25, 2002

Greenville, SC - The Southern Conference today named its football players of the week for games played on Thursday, November 21 and Saturday, November 23. Citadel quarterback Jeff Klein was named the Offensive Player of the Week, Furman defensive back Rodney Johnson was named the Defensive Player of the Week and Furman linebacker William Freeman earned Freshman of the Week.

Klein, a 6-3, 222 senior from Alpharetta, GA, completed 17 of 32 passes for 251 yards and four touchdowns in leading the Bulldogs to a 53-19 win over Charleston Southern on November 21. Klein threw scoring passes of 14, 50, 3 and 24 yards in the victory.

Johnson, a 5-9, 174-pound senior from Marion, NC, tallied five tackles (three solo, two assists) and an interception, which he returned 26 yards, to help lead Furman to a 35-7 Southern Conference win over Chattanooga, thereby enabling the Paladins to secure a bid to the NCAA I-AA playoffs. Johnson's interception, his team leading sixth of the season, came in the third quarter with Furman leading 14-7 and helped set up a touchdown. Johnson also keyed a Paladin defensive effort that limited UTC to only 219 total yards and only 165 yards passing.

Freeman, a 6-1, 216-pound redshirt freshman from Swansea, SC, registered three tackles and a sack for minus 11 yards in Furman's 35-7 win over Chattanooga. Freeman's sack headlined a Paladin pass rush that totaled a season-best three sacks and a defensive effort that limited the Mocs to only 219 total offense yards and 165 yards passing.

Also receiving strong consideration for defensive player of the week was defensive end Cliff Washburn of The Citadel who had six tackles including five tackles for loss, four sacks and a fumble return for a touchdown in the win over Charleston Southern, and Wofford's Lee Basinger who had 10 tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack in the win over Elon. Also considered on the offensive side were running back Jesse McCoy of Wofford who rushed for 98 yards and surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season, and Furman's Hindley Brigham who rushed for 114 yards and two touchdowns against Chattanooga.

This marks the second time this year the Southern Conference named a Citadel player with the honor. Defensive end, Cliff Washburn earned Defensive Player of the Week for the game played on Saturday, September 14 versus Delaware.

On the year, Klein was responsible for 21 touchdowns. Klein led the Bulldogs on 17 aerial attacks, while scampering to the zone four times. In the passing yardage column Klein led the Southern Conference with 2,561 yards, completing 203 of 378 passes with an average of 213.4 yards per game.