Leonard Fournette named FedEx Ground Player of the Week

Jacksonville Jaguars rookie running back Leonard Fournette has been named FedEx Ground Player of the Week for his performance in Week 5 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Fournette rushed 28 times for a career-best 181 yards (6.5 yards per carry) and two touchdowns in the team’s victory over Pittsburgh. His 181 rushing yards were the most in a game in the NFL this season and the most by a Jaguars running back since Maurice Jones-Drew’s 186 on December 5, 2010 at Tennessee.

The rookie scored on a two-yard plunge in the second quarter and a game-clinching 90-yard spring with 1:47 remaining in the fourth quarter. His 90-yard touchdown 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 touchdown of at least 90 yards. On his run, Fournette recorded a max speed of 22.05 MPH, the fastest run by a call carrier (all positions, including kick returner) in the NFL this season.

Through five games Fournette has rushed 109 times for 466 yards (4.3 yards per carry) and five touchdowns and caught 13 passes for 128 yards (9.8 yards per catch) and one touchdown. His 466 rushing yards and five rushing scores 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 running back Kareem Hunt, who has totaled 609 rushing yards and four rushing scores.

Fournette’s 466 rushing yards are the second-most by a Jaguars running back 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 touchdown (rushing or receiving) in each of his first five NFL games, and just the fifth rookie in NFL history to do so.