Football

Roque Garners Offensive Player of the Year Accolades in NJAC

POMONA, N.J. (11/21/06) - Junior quarterback AJ Roque (Matawan, N.J.) was tabbed the New Jersey Athletic Conference Offensive Football Player of the Year, as selected by the NJAC coaches and announced by the conference on Tuesday afternoon. The junior helped lead the football team to its' first winning season in over a decade, as the Cougars finished the season 7-4 overall, 4-3 in the NJAC.

The three-year starter became the first player in program history to eclipse 5,000 passing yards in a career and 2,000 passing yards in a season. This season, he finished with 2,320 yards passing and 19 touchdowns to break his own school record in both categories. In 30 career games under center, Roque has 5,980 passing yards and 46 career passing touchdowns.

Roque finished the season leading the conference in passing yardage per game (210.9), total offense per game (216.7) and passing efficiency (137.7). He was named the NJAC Offensive Player of the Week following Kean's 34-6 victory over Western Connecticut State University on November 4.

Just two years after ranking last in the NJAC in scoring offense, rushing offense and total offense, the Cougars led the conference in passing offense, rushing offense, total offense, pass efficiency and first downs, while also ranking second in scoring offense and scoring defense.

Kean captured just its second Eastern College Athletic Conference title with a 37-0 shutout over King's College in the ECAC Southeast Bowl Championship. In the 37-year history of the program, the Cougars finished with a winning record for just the eight time and first since the 1994 team finished 7-2-1 overall and won the school's first ECAC championship.