University of Richmond Athletics
Tim Hightower Named CAA Football Offensive Player of the Week
Sept. 10, 2007
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond senior running back Tim Hightower was named the CAA Football Offensive Player of the Week after his career performance Saturday in the Spiders' 49-14 win over Northeastern. His four rushing touchdowns were the most by a running back last week in major college football and his 246 yards were second-most.
Hightower ignited the offense in Richmond's decisive conference-opening win on the road, with on-field temperatures surpassing 100-degrees at Parsons Field. His four scores came on runs of three yards, 90 yards, 67 yards and 12 yards, tying him with six others for the second-most single-game rushing TDs in school history.
"The thing we have really tried to add to his repertoire is to be a home-run hitter occasionally," said head coach Dave Clawson. "Timmy worked extremely hard this summer in becoming faster and it's encouraging to see him get to that second and third level and breakaway from people. That's really not something he's done here in the past."
The 90-yard jaunt, which saw Hightower get a number of key blocks as he zigzagged down the sidelines, ranks as the third-longest from scrimmage in the Richmond books. The Waldorf, Md. native's rushing total marked the second-most in school history, equaling a mark set in 2001 by Cordell Roane. Only the 280 yards from NFL first-round draft choice Barry Redden (versus Penn in 1981) is better.
"He showed an ability to accelerate in the open field that I don't remember seeing from him in 2006," said Northeastern head coach Rocky Hager during Monday's CAA Football coaches' teleconference. "And they have a very talented offensive line that presented some challenges for us."
Hightower, who averaged 12.9 yards per carry against the Huskies, spurred the Richmond offense to a record-breaking day as the Spiders racked up 642 yards of total offense, 443 of which were on the ground -- both marking single-game records. The senior is the only Spider on the school's top-10 single-game rushing list to accomplish the feat on less than 20 carries.
Each of Hightower's last two single-game rushing career-highs have come against the Huskies. He collected 149 yards on the ground in last season's 12-7 win at UR Stadium versus NU for his previous career-best before Saturday.
Hightower now has 2,107 yards rushing with 19 career touchdowns. He currently stands ninth in career rushing yards and seventh in touchdowns at Richmond.