'Birds sweep weekly Gateway honors for second time

[OCT. 24, 2005]  NORMAL -- With the team's dominating performance against a ranked team for the second week in a row, the Illinois State Redbirds swept the Gateway Football Conference honors for player of the week for the weekend of Oct. 22. Laurent Robinson, Brent Hawkins and Ryan Hoffman each contributed to the 38-3 defeat of No. 13 Northern Iowa and were rewarded with honors as player of the week with the offensive, defensive and special teams, respectively. It was the second time this season this trio has swept the honors, doing so previously the week of Sept. 24, when ISU shut out Murray State 42-0.

Robinson opened the game with a 36-yard reception from Luke Drone on the first play from scrimmage and never looked back, dicing up the secondary of No. 13 UNI for a career-best 243 yards on 10 catches and three touchdowns. He scored on passes of 46, nine and 25 yards and now has nine touchdown receptions on the season. The 243 yards placed Robinson in a tie for the second-best receiving day in Redbird history, while also giving him 1,019 yards on the season, to become only the third wide receiver to post a 1,000-yard season at ISU. It was also Robinson's third straight game of over 100 yards receiving, and he is the only Redbird receiver in history to achieve that feat.

Hawkins, a Buck Buchanan Award candidate, put on a clinic and single-handedly disrupted the nation's No. 13 team, which had previously allowed the fewest sacks in the league. Hawkins finished with a school-record-tying five sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss. He also registered nine total tackles, including six solo stops. As a result, Hawkins and the Redbirds handed UNI its worst regular-season loss to a non-I-A team since losing 52-9 at home to Southern Illinois in the 1983 season. The award for player of the week was Hawkins' second of the season.

Hoffman, again paired with the Redbird defense, kept No. 13 UNI at bay. Highlighted by his 35-yard squib punt that rolled to the UNI 1-yard line, Hoffman finished the game with four punts for a 44.8-yard average, including two kicks that were over 50 yards. The downed punt gave the Redbirds control heading into the locker room at halftime as UNI was forced to punt after three downs. On the ensuing play, Luke Drone connected with Laurent Robinson for a one-play, 46-yard scoring drive that gave ISU a 21-0 lead at the intermission.

Robinson and Hawkins now have two awards each for player of the week in 2005, and Hoffman added his third of the season, after winning for the week of Sept. 17. In all, the Redbirds have 11 Gateway Player of the Week awards on the season, with Kye Stewart adding two awards and Brian Thompson and Pierre Rembert rounding out the mix.

ISU returns to action Oct. 29, against Western Illinois at Hancock Stadium in Normal, looking for a third consecutive win.

[Illinois State University news release]

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