Messenger Defensive Player of the Week

Obion Central’s Joe Ferguson

School: Obion Central
Grade: Junior
Height: 6-1
Weight: 180
Pos.: Safety

By the numbers: In one of the best individual performances in the past several years, Ferguson made an astonishing 21 tackles, forced a pair of fumbles and recovered a fumble in the Rebels’ 34-21 loss to Crockett County. Not all Ferguson’s stops were as the last line of OC defense either, as he was positioned closer-than-usual to the line of scrimmage and had several hits that limited the Cavaliers to small gains.
Sound bite: “I’ve never coached a kid on any level who had a game like that,” OC skipper Shawn Jackson claimed of Ferguson’s effort. “The 20-plus tackles would be amazing in itself, but to add the forced fumbles and the recovery, that’s amazing. He was truly everywhere. Joe’s a tough kid and a good football player. He was really dialed-in last Friday.”
HONORABLE MENTION: Blake Boyd, OC senior linebacker, Was in on 19 tackles and forced one fumble during the Rebels’ defeat; Cody Tatum, SF sophomore linebacker, was credited with a team-best 11 tackles (three for a loss) in South Fulton’s 12-6 triumph at Greenfield. Keylon Hyde, UC freshman defensive back, recovered a fumble and accounted for five stops during the Twisters’ 48-0 rout of Trenton