LC-M grad Reed earns honors for La. Tech

Published 8:47 am Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Former Little Cypress-Mauriceville standout and Louisiana Tech offensive lineman Ethan Reed received a pair of nice honors from Conference USA.

Reed has been named to the 2018 InTouch Credit Union Conference USA Football All-Academic Team for his performance both on the field and in the classroom this season and he also picked up Honorable Mention All-Conference for his performance on the field.

Reed and the Bulldogs recently defeated Hawaii 31-14 in the Hawaii Bowl.

Reed is one of 11 C-USA football student-athletes named to this year’s All-Academic Team, while a total of nine schools are represented on the team. Reed was named to the 2018 All-Academic Team after compiling a 3.43 cumulative GPA in mechanical engineering.

The redshirt junior from Orange, Texas, is a three-time member of the Conference USA Honor Roll and a two-time member of the Louisiana Tech AD Honor Roll. In 2016, he was named a USA TODAY Sports Freshman All-American. In addition to his duties on the field, Reed is also a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) at Louisiana Tech and earned the Conference USA Commissioner’s Academic Medal in 2016.

On the gridiron, Reed has started every game on the offensive line at Louisiana Tech in his collegiate career (40), including starting all 12 games for the Bulldogs in 2018 at right guard, while paving the way for a Louisiana Tech offense that ranks fifth in the league in passing offense and eighth in total offense.

Louisiana Tech produced a total of four first and second team members on Conference USA’s 2018 All-Conference football teams.

In addition to the five Bulldogs selected to the first and second teams and the All-Freshman squad, Louisiana Tech earned an additional 14 spots on Conference USA’s Honorable Mention team, which is the most of any other team in the league. With the combination of first and second team honors and honorable mention, LA Tech led the conference this year with the most awards of any other school (18). The teams are voted on by the league’s 14 head football coaches.

Leading the way for Louisiana Tech was senior defensive end Jaylon Ferguson who was recently named one of four finalists for the Ted Hendricks Award, which goes to the nation’s top defensive end. Ferguson was voted First Team All-Conference for the third straight season after enjoying a record-breaking season for the Bulldogs.

Ferguson is currently ranked first in the nation with 15.0 sacks in 2018 and has already broken his own single-season sacks record at LA Tech, which he originally set back in 2016 with 14.5 sacks as a sophomore. Ferguson’s performance as a senior has helped the St. Francisville native break both the Louisiana Tech and C-USA career sack records (42.5). With one game left in his career, Ferguson is 1.5 sacks shy of tying the all-time NCAA career record, which is held by Terrell Suggs (44).

Louisiana Tech also had sophomore Amik Robertson selected to the league’s first team after the cornerback followed up his Freshman All-American season by totaling 57 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions and 12 pass break-ups. Robertson also had three QB hurries, a forced fumble and recovery and two blocked kicks on the season.

On the offensive side of the ball, Louisiana Tech was represented by senior left tackle O’Shea Dugas, who earned first team honors after playing in all 12 games for the Bulldogs this season, while making 11 starts on the offensive line. Dugas has made the most career starts of any Bulldog in his four years in Ruston (43). As a senior, Dugas has helped lead an offensive unit that ranks fourth in C-USA in red zone offense and tackles for loss allowed.

The league’s second team all-conference honors included sophomore wide receiver Adrian Hard, who led the Bulldogs in receiving after starting every game this season. In the final regular-season game of the season versus WKU, Hardy became the first Bulldog receiver since 2016 to surpass 1,000 receiving yards for the season. Overall, Hardy leads the team with 69 catches for 1,052 yards and six touchdowns, while he ranks in the top 25 nationally in receiving yards and receiving yards per game (87.7).