Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina head football coach
Kerwin Bell has recently likened his football team – and in particular, his offense – to a rocket perched on the launching pad, shaking and rattling just before takeoff but had yet to soar here in 2024.
After last weekend's prolific performance against their chromatic conference rival, it's safe to say – at least for one week – 'whee have Lift-Off.
Stemming from his record-shattering performance last Saturday in the 52-20 dismantling of the Furman Paladins, Western Carolina junior quarterback
Cole Gonzales was today named the
Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Week – but more impressively, the Ocala, Fla., product collected
Stats Perform FCS National Offensive Player of the Week plaudits, presented by FedEx.
The weekly award from The Southern Conference is the third for Gonzales over the past three seasons, two coming during his sophomore campaign in 2023. The honor is also the first for a Catamount football player in the 2024 season. Today marked the first national honor for Gonzales.
The SoCon's weekly award winners are selected by the conference office from nominations submitted by the sports information or media relations personnel at each institution.
Additionally, on Monday, WCU first-year offensive coordinator
Rylan Wells was recognized by Our Coaching Network as the national Offensive Coordinator of the Week for week 8 as announced on its social media platforms following WCU's strong performance at Furman.
Gonzales and the Catamounts had one of the best offensive days in SoCon football history in earning their third league victory, amassing a conference single-game record 801 yards of total offense including a league benchmark of 652 passing yards that featured a single-game record 620 aerial yards by Gonzales.
Among the 11 different Catamounts to catch passes from Gonzales, three went over the 100-yard mark –
Isaiah Johnson (117),
Zion Booker (103 yds), and
Jai Boyd (102 yds) with four combining to collect his career-high tying five touchdown passes, two going to the freshman Johnson for his first collegiate scores. The Ocala, Fla., native hit scoring strikes of 15, 62, 23, 20, and 48 yards in the winning effort, matching his career-best with five TD strikes for the fourth time in his career.
Connecting on a pair of passes on WCU's three-play, 60-second scoring drive on the game's opening possession, Gonzales went on to complete a career-high 35 passes on a career-best 55 attempts for the SoCon record-setting 620 yards, eclipsing the school record of 474 yards held by David Rivers (vs. Wofford, 2000) and the league mark of 582 held by Samford's Liam Welch (vs. VMI, 1991). His 620 yards were also the seventh-best single-game passing performance in NCAA FCS history.
Gonzales, who was a finalist for last year's Walter Payton Award given by the same group, finishing a program-best 17th overall in the national vote, eclipsed the 300-yard mark for the fifth time in his WCU career on his way to by-passing both the 400 and 500-yard marks to land among the elite with over 600 yards in a single game. His efforts helped the Catamounts bested the 46-year-old Southern Conference team record for total offense in a game, eclipsing the 795 set by Chattanooga back in 1978.
With Saturday's performance, Gonzales now ranks third on WCU's career passing charts with 6,287 yards, by-passing Mike Pusey (1977-79 - 6,160 yards). His five TD passes give him 49 in his career to remain in third place on the career ledgers, just one behind second-place Troy Mitchell (50, 2012-15) and 15 shy of all-time leader Tyrie Adams (64, 2016-19). Gonzales finished with 610 yards of total offense at Furman – 620 passing but -10 rushing – to give him 6,796 career yards of total offense to remain fourth in WCU's record books – just 36 yards shy of third-place Lonnie Galloway (1990-93 – 6, 832 yards).
Western Carolina was twice honored back in 2023 by Stats Perform FCS with national award recognition. The Catamounts garnered the National Team of the Week honor after the upset win over then-No. 7/8 Samford Bulldogs in Week Two. Later that season in Week 11, former placekicker
Richard McCollum was dubbed the National Special Teams Player of the Week. Gonzales is one of two Catamounts currently on the roster to have earned a national award. Placekicker Paxton Roberton was named the Stats Perform FCS National Freshman of the Week back in February of 2021 in the COVID-altered season.
Alone atop the Southern Conference standings as the lone unbeaten in conference play and ranked 24th in this week's Stats Perform FCS Top 25, Western Carolina (4-3, 3-0 SoCon) plays the back end of a two-game league road swing on Saturday (Oct. 26) when the Catamounts travel to Macon, Ga., to face the previously unbeaten and No. 17/14 Mercer Bears. Kickoff from Five-Star Stadium is at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN+ (
paid subscription required) with audio coverage through the Catamount Sports Network beginning at 2:30 p.m.
Monday night also features "Catamount Football Weekly," presented by Stanberry Insurance LIVE on-location at Rodgers Bros & Speedy's Pizza in Cullowhee. The show starts at 6 p.m. and can be seen
online through the WCU Athletics Facebook page.
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).
