Tri-State Player Award

During the 2009 season he rushed 108 times for 826 yards and 10 touchdowns. As a receiver Szczur recorded 51 catches for 610 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also returned 30 kicks for 816 yards and a touchdown. Szczur was named to the Colonial Athletic Association All Conference first team and was also selected as the conference Offensive and Special Teams Player of the Year. Villanova Head Coach Andy Talley offered high praise for Szczur, "What can I say about Matt Szczur? He's the best player we've had at Villanova since Brian Westbrook”.

Villanova’s Brian Westbrook set his goals high.

"I wanted to be the best in the country," the Wildcats’ star running back said. "Nobody practices to be second best. I did everything twice as hard, twice as much so I would be twice as prepared.

"I wanted to put myself in position so I wouldn’t have to worry about anything, so everything that comes to me on the football field is easy."

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For anyone watching Temple football this season, the sight of No. 73 tossing aside blockers and sacking quarterbacks surely brought back memories. The Owls have not had a defensive lineman like Dan Klecko since, well, his father Joe was wearing the cherry and white in the 1970s.

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Andy Hall began his college career at Georgia Tech, but he transferred to Delaware in 2002. His goal, he said, was to win a national championship. In his final collegiate game, he did exactly that.

In December, Hall quarterbacked the Blue Hens to a 40-0 rout of Colgate in the NCAA Division 1-AA title game in Chattanooga, Tenn. Hall played with a separated left shoulder, but he still passed for 183 yards and two touchdowns.

"This is the stuff you dream about," Hall said after the game. "Going out on top, I feel like Michael Jordan."

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When Joe McCourt completed his record-setting career at Roman Catholic High School, he was recruited by a number of colleges, including Villanova, Lehigh and Buffalo. He chose Lafayette for one simple reason: It was the only school that recruited him as a running back.

"All the other schools told me I couldn't play running back at the 1-AA level," McCourt told Kevin Tresolini of the Wilmington News-Journal. "(They said) I'd have to be a strong safety or outside linebacker. I wanted to play running back."

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Like most coaches, G.A. Mangus of Delaware Valley College tries to keep a certain distance between himself and his players. “If you get too close to a kid,” he said, “it can interfere with your judgment.” But every so often, there is a player who makes a coach bend that rule.

Adam Knoblauch was that player for Mangus.

“Adam is a special kid,” Mangus said. “Put the football part aside and look at the person that he is. You can’t help but get close to a kid like that. It was my good fortune to have him the last four years. Coaching Adam was a joy.”

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Ray Rice started fast in the 2006 season and never slowed down. He rushed for 201 yards in Rutgers’ 21-16 win over North Carolina and he just kept going, rolling up 1,794 yards, fourth best in the nation, and earning Most Valuable Player honors in the Scarlet Knights’ 37-10 win over Kansas State in the Texas Bowl.

Rice carried the ball 24 times for 170 yards, including a 46-yard touchdown, in the victory over Kansas State. It was the first bowl victory in Rutgers’ history and Rice celebrated by wearing a white cowboy hat onto the stage as he accepted the MVP trophy.

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The Zwaans have made it a clean sweep of the Maxwell Club’s Tri-State honors. Bill Zwaan, Jr., is the winner of the 2007 Tri-State Player of the Year Award. His father Bill, Sr., was selected Tri-State Coach of the Year in 2001.

The Zwaans formed a winning team at West Chester University where Bill, Sr., is head coach and Bill, Jr., was the star quarterback. Last season, Bill, Jr., completed 173 of 307 pass attempts for 2,973 yards and 28 touchdowns as the Golden Rams posted a 9-3 record and qualified for the Division II playoffs.

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It’s hard to say that a player’s best days are ahead of him, especially when that player caught 87 balls for 1,371 yards and seven touchdowns. However, that is likely the case for Rutgers wide receiver Kenny Britt, the 8th Annual Tri-State Player of the Year.

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