Jonathan Dwyer
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jonathan Dwyer (born Jonathan Avery Dwyer on July 26, 1989) plays running back for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the NCAA college football tournament. A hotly contested talent out of high school, Dwyer proved the hype right when he lived up to his billing in his true freshman year by displaying his power, speed, vision, and elusiveness eventhough he was only the number two guy on the depth chart. During his sophomore year, he proved he had no problems adjusting to the new offensive scheme by leading the Yellow Jacket offense into a near ACC-title berth and winning the ACC Offensive Player of the Year award for himself.
Contents |
[edit] Personal Life
Jonathan Avery is the son of Tony and Keely Dwyer. He majored in management at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
[edit] High School
Dwyer studied high school at Kell High in his hometown of Marietta, GA, where he was a two-sport athlete (football and track). He placed second in the state in the Class AAAAA 100 meters during his junior year. On the gridiron, he played under head coach Irvin Sigler. When he was a junior, Dwyer rushed for 1,863 yards and 24 touchdowns and was named as an Honorable mention all-state. The following year, he piled up 1,802 yards rushing and 21 scoring runs, finishing his senior season with five 200-yard games that include a career high 307 against Centennial. He also caught 23 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns that year, and added a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown to raise his season total to 25 TDs. By the end of the year, Dwyer's exploits were recognized as he was named as the Class AAAAA Offensive Player of the Year by the AJC and was picked as a first-team all-state by AJC, and an All-Southern by the Orlando Sentinel. He concluded his career at Kell with a total of 5,565 rushing yards and 71 touchdowns.
Entering the recruiting period, Dwyer was one of only two high school players in the state of Georgia chosen as a Parade All-American. He also made it into the AJC Super Southern 100, the Mobile Press-Register Super Southeast 120, the Macon Telegraph Georgia Top 50, the Scout.com national Hot 100, the PrepStar 100 and the Rivals 250. In terms of rankings, he was listed as the #10 and the #14 running back prospect in the nation by Rivals.com and SuperPrep, respectively, and the 5th and 8th overall prospect in the state of Georgia by Scout.com and Rivals.com, respectively.
[edit] College
A four-star recruit, Dwyer received scholarship offers from Tech, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, and Georgia. Three weeks before he announced his choice, Dwyer said that he had a dream where he looked around the room and saw friends and family wearing blue and gold. During his parents' anniversary on August 31 (2006), Dwyer became the 13th commitment of Tech coach Chan Gailey's 2007 signing class.
[edit] 2007
As a true freshman, Dwyer played as a back-up to senior running back Tashard Choice. He made his collegiate debut at Notre Dame where he rushed five times for 27 yards and his first career score in the 33-3 win over the Fighting Irish. The following week against Samford, Dwyer had a career game after rushing for a season high 138 yards (5th-largest single game mark ever for a Georgia Tech freshman and the 4th-most ever by a true freshman in school history) and three touchdowns on nine carries, and combined with Choice to give the Yellow Jackets two 100-yard rushers in the same game for the first time since 2003 in the lopsided 69-14 victory. He also made his debut on the special teams during that game, returning a kickoff for 32 yards and was named as the ACC Rookie of the Week. In a loss to Boston College, he rushed nine times and scored on a run for the third game in a row, caught his first pass of the season on a 9-yarder, and returned a season high 3 kickoffs for 81 yards. At Virginia, he had a season high 15 rushing attempts for 75 yards and a TD in a 23-28 setback. Against Clemson, he only had 4 carries for 5 yards and was kept out of the endzone for the first time in the season. In road games at Maryland and at Miami (Fla.), Dwyer was relegated to kick returning duties, taking back a combined five kicks for 100 yards total. Against Army, he rushed six times for 20 yards and a TD in a 24-point win. He had back-to-back 10-carry games in the loss to Virginia Tech and in the win at Duke, rushing for 68 yards against the Hokies and just 23 yards against the Blue Devils. In a close 27-25 victory over North Carolina, he was limited to an 8-yard catch and a 16-yard kickoff return, before ending the regular season with only a yard-per-carry average in the loss to the Bulldogs.
In his postseason debut, Dwyer had 12 carries for 62 yards and two touchdowns to claim the team's MVP award in the 28-40 Humanitarian Bowl loss to Fresno State. He finished the season as the team's second-leading rusher, gaining 436 yards and scoring 9 TDs on 82 carries in 13 appearances. He averaged 5.3 yards per carry and ranked third on the team in scoring (54 points). He was named as a Freshman All-ACC by The Sporting News.
[edit] 2008
With the departure of Choice, Dwyer inherited the starring role on the backfield and was the starting B-back in the Yellow Jackets' new offense. In the season-opener, he did not show any difficulties under coach Paul Johnson's scheme as he amassed 112 yards and scored 2 TDs on 11 carries in the 41-14 win over Jacksonville State. He followed that up with an 18-carry, 108-yard, 1-TD performance in the 3-point win at Boston College, where he also kick returned for a season high 97 yards on 3 attempts. At Virginia Tech, he was limited to a rare two-digit output when the Hokie defense allowed him only 28 rushing yards on 10 carries in the 3-point setback. Against Mississippi State, he rebounded by rushing for 141 yards and a TD and caught a 20-yard pass in the 31-point triumph. In the shut-out win over Duke, he tallied season highs in rushing yards (159) and carries (23). Against Garner-Webb however, Dwyer was down to a season low 27 rush yards on 16 carries but did caught a season high 79-yard pass in the 10-7 win. At Clemson, he recorded his 5th 100-yard game of the season after rushing for 109 yards on 21 carries in the 4-point victory. Against Virginia, he managed to rush 17 times for 70 yards and a TD in the 7-point loss. In a three-point win over FSU, he totalled 145 yards and scored on runs of 36 and 66 yards. The following week at UNC, he recorded 157 yards on the ground, including an 85-yard scoring run in the 21-point defeat. Against Miami, he recorded 128 yards and 2 TDs on only 10 carries in the 18-point domination over the Canes. In the regular season finale at No.13 Georgia, he produced 144 yards and 2 TDs on 20 carries to lead the Yellow Jackets to a 3-point upset win.
Dwyer finished his sophomore year as the league's best rusher with 1,328 yards (110.7 yards per game) and went over the 100-yard mark in nine games to match the school record. His efforts got him named as the ACC Player of the Year, marking the 3rd time a Yellow Jacket has bagged the award. He was also one of only two unanimous selections for the All-ACC team.
[edit] Career Stats
| Rushing | Receiving | |||||||||
| Year | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD |
| 2007 | 82 | 436 | 5.3 | 65 | 9 | 2 | 17 | 8.5 | 9 | 0 |
| 2008 | ||||||||||
[edit] Highlights
| Jonathan Dwyer High School Highlights (from SunshinePreps.net) |
[edit] Achievements
[edit] 2008
- ACC Co-Offensive Back of the Week (vs. Miami)
- ACC Offensive Player of the Year
- ACC Player of the Year
- All-ACC First Team
- Phil Steele All-ACC First Team
- Phil Steele Midseason All-ACC First Team
[edit] 2007
- ACC Rookie of the Week (vs. Samford)
- Humanitarian Bowl Team MVP
- The Sporting News ACC All-Freshman Team
