JACKSONVILLE, Fla. –Jacksonville Jaguars rookie RB Leonard Fournette has been named FedEx Ground Player of the Week for his performance in Week 5 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the NFL announced today.
The weekly FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Week Awards also marks a win for the Jacksonville community. Along with the player awards, FedEx is making a $2,000 donation in Fournette's name that will go to the USO through FedEx Cares. The donation will be used to support USO programs that keep service members connected to family, home and country as they depart the military and find a new path in civilian life.
Fournette rushed 28 times for a career-best 181 yards (6.5 rush avg.) and two TDs in the team's Week 5 victory over Pittsburgh. His 181 rushing yards were the most in a game in the NFL this season and the most by a Jaguars RB since Maurice Jones-Drew's 186 on Dec. 5, 2010 at Tennessee. Fournette scored TDs on a two-yard plunge in the second quarter and a game-clinching 90-yard TD scamper with 1:47 remaining in the fourth quarter. His 90-yard TD run was the longest run from scrimmage in Jaguars regular season history. At 22 years and 263 days old, Fournette became the youngest player in NFL history with a rushing TD of at least 90 yards. On his 90-yard TD run, Fournette recorded a max speed of 22.05 MPH, the fastest run by a call carrier (all positions, including KR) in the NFL this season.
Through five games Fournette has rushed 109 times for 466 yards (4.3 avg.) and five TDs and caught 13 passes for 128 yards (9.8 avg.) and one TD. His 466 rushing yards and five rushing TDs are both the most by a rookie in franchise history through five games and his 466 rushing yards rank second in the NFL, trailing only Kansas City's rookie RB Kareem Hunt, who has totaled 609 rushing yards and four rushing TDs. Fournette's 466 rushing yards are the second-most by a Jaguars RB through five games in a season, trailing only Jones-Drew's 476 yards in 2011, the year he won the rushing title and finished with a franchise-record 1,606 rushing yards. Fournette is the first rookie in Jaguars history and the only rookie in the NFL this season to register a scrimmage TD (rushing or receiving) in each of his first five NFL games, and just the fifth rookie in NFL history to do so.
