BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — Redshirt freshman tailback Kendall Morris, of the Austin Peay State University football team, has been named to the 2015 Ohio Valley Conference All-Newcomer team.
The St. Peters, Missouri, native finished sixth in the OVC in rushing with 690 yards during the regular season, averaging 4.9 yards per carry on 142 attempts. He was among the nation’s top performers in yards (82nd), yards per carry (80th) and yards per game (92nd) and finished the regular season with five rushing touchdowns.
After taking over as the lead back after Otis Gerron was forced to end his career due to injury, Morris scored his first career touchdown as part of a 15-carry, 75-yard day at Eastern Kentucky. He followed that with back-to-back 100-yard games against Eastern Illinois (141) and Murray State (136), and closed the season with 112 yards on the ground at Tennessee Tech.
“It’s pretty cool,” Morris said of the honor. “Right around the Murray game, this kind of became a goal of mine, once I saw that this was a milestone that was out there that I could achieve.”
He’s the fourth Governor to earn OVC All-Newcomer honors, and the first since Reco Williams in 2012. Coincidentally, all four—Morris, Williams, Ryan White (2008) and Terrence Holt (2007)—earned the honor at least in part due to work as running backs.
With eyes already turned toward 2016, Morris hopes to be the first Governor to lead the team in rushing in back-to-back seasons since Ryan White (2008-09).