The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
NDC RB honored; West G senior commits
Notre Dame College running back Jaleel McLaughlin is named Mountain East Conference Male Athlete of the Year, and West G senior MJ Thomsen unveils her hoops commitment to an NAIA school.
At the halfway point of his college career, Jaleel McLaughlin has piled up an impressive array of records and awards, but the best might be yet to come.
The All-America running back at Notre Dame College will be a junior in the fall, but before that McLaughlin took home an impressive honor May 27. He was named the Mountain East Conference Male Athlete of the Year for 2019-20.
It’s second consecutive year an NDC studentathlete won the award after men’s basketball player Will Vorhees — who earned a tryout with the Cavaliers — was honored last year.
“Jaleel is very deserving of this award, one of the hardest working players I have ever been around,” said NDC coach Mickey Mental at notredamefalcons.com. “His drive and passion to excel at a high standard is unmatched. Our program is very happy for him to be recognized as the top male athlete in this elite conference.” McLaughlin has been nothing short of spectacular
in two seasons at NDC. His totals would be good enough for many standout running backs during a career, but McLaughlin’s work ethic has him driven to keep up what has been a staggering pace. Consider his stats:
• In 2019, he ran for 2,316 yards, recorded 146 kick-return yards and totaled 64 receiving yards for 2,526 all-purpose yards.
• He scored 33 touchdowns (30 rushing) and had 198 total points.
• McLaughlin rushed for more than 200 yards in four
separate games and scored at least three touchdowns in six games.
• He led NCAA Division II in rushing yards, scoring, total touchdowns and all-purpose yards.
• McLaughlin has won two straight MEC Offensive Player of the Year Awards, and was the 2019 runner-up for the Harlon Hill Award, given to nation’s top player in D-II.
• Other awards include being named the 2019 National Offensive Player of the Year by D2Football.com and being named first-team All-America by five outlets.
McLaughlin was also a firstteam All-America pick as a freshman.
• In just two seasons, he already has 4,737 rushing yards and 48 touchdowns, and has averaged 169.2 rushing yards in 28 career games for the Falcons.
• He’s just the seventh running back in the history of college football to rush for 2,000 yards in back-to-back seasons, and the first to do it in his first two seasons.
McLaughlin continues to train during the novel coronavirus pandemic in his hometown of Marshville, N.C. His motivation is winning a D-II national championship in football for NDC. The Falcons are 25-3 the last seasons. In 2018, they advanced to the national semifinal round, and in 2019 they played in the quarterfinal round. “That’s my fuel,” McLaughlin told The NewsHerald in January. “I think about it every day, two years in a row we came up short.”
If McLaughlin duplicates his rushing numbers from his freshman and sophomore seasons in South Euclid, he would shatter the all-time NCAA rushing record held by Mount Union’s Nate Kmic (8,074).