Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina sophomore quarterback
Cole Gonzales was today named The Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Week following his career performance last Saturday in the home victory over Charleston Southern.
The weekly conference award is the first for Gonzales in his career and the second for the Catamounts this season. Sophomore tailback
Desmond Reid earned the offensive honor following WCU's upset victory of No. 7/8 Samford back on Sept. 9 in Cullowhee.
Gonzales also collected
National Player of the Week honors from the College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) as announced on Sunday. He was also an honorable mention for the
FedEx Ground National Offensive Player of the Week as announced by Stats Perform FCS on Monday afternoon.
Gonzales completed his first 12 passes last Saturday on the way to a 14-for-16, 299-yard performance against Charleston Southern, tossing a career-high five touchdown passes over the first two quarters. His five passing scores set a WCU record for TD passes in one half of football, while matching the Whitmire Stadium benchmark set by former Catamount QB's Troy Mitchell (vs. VMI, 2014) and Tyrie Adams (vs. Gardner-Webb, 2016).
The second-year signal caller from Ocala, Fla., boasted an 87.5-percent completion percentage and a 347.6 quarterback rating. His five first-half touchdown passes went to four different receivers, twice connecting with sophomore
AJ Colombo. WCU's 42 first-half points spurred by the five Gonzales' TD passes represented the fourth-most by a Catamount offense in a half in program history.
The Catamounts needed just 13 offensive plays to score its first 21 points last Saturday, using a nine-play drive and consecutive two-play drives orchestrated by Gonzales in the opening frame. A combined 10 of WCU's 11 scoring drives were accomplished in six or fewer plays in the winning effort.
Behind Gonzales, the Catamount offense currently
leads the NCAA FCS in both total offense at 517.8 yards per game and first downs with 109 entering the week.
Off to its best start since 2018, No. 17/21 Western Carolina (3-1, 1-0 SoCon) opens a two-game road swing through Southern Conference play
this weekend, traveling to Charleston, S.C., to face The Citadel Bulldogs (0-4, 0-1 SoCon). Kickoff from Johnson Hagood Stadium is scheduled for 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ (
paid subscription required) with live audio from the Catamount Sports Network beginning at 1 p.m.
Keep track of everything related to Catamount football and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/CatamountSports) and Twitter (@Catamounts, @CatamountsFB).
