George Sekul (1968) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

George Sekul

Induction:
1968

George Sekul is still regarded as one of the best quarterbacks to have ever played at Southern Miss and during his brief two year career at the school led the team to 17 victories in 20 games and helped lead the team to the first of two UPI College Division national Championships.
   It wasn’t a surprise that Sekul would turn out to be an outstanding player. prior to joining Southern Miss in time for the 1957 season, he had been rated as one of the top quarterbacks in the Mississippi junior college ranks while playing at Gulf Coast Junior College in Perkinston, Mississippi.
   When he arrived at Southern Miss the coaching staff had him pegged to perhaps battle for the number two spot ay quarterback, but he became the surprise of the 1957 season as he earned a job as the alternate starter and immediately became one of the team’s biggest offensive threats.
   He was a threat in many different ways for the team that year. Not only was he an outstanding passer, but one of the best broken field runners of the era at Southern Miss. The coaches were anxious to utilize his talents in as many ways as they could and it was unusual to see him returning kicks, punting and leading the defense that year.
   The 1957 team would finish with an 8-3 record and Sekul would be the leading passer on that squad as he completed 21 of 58 passes for 478 yards and four touchdowns. He would carry the ball 49 times for 89 yards, punt 16 times for a 33.8 yard average, return a kickoff 48 yards and intercept a team high five passes for 63 yards.
   With Sekul leading the Southern Miss defense they allowed only 6.2 points a game and 207.9 yards a game.
   Sekul could hurt you and come at you from one of many directions and he cause problems all season long for the opposition as the team earned a berth in the Tangerine Bowl against East Texas State.
   Sekul would be the leader of the Southern Miss team the following year that would go on to capture the national championship. He had another great year as he passed for 592 yards by completing 28 of 61 passes and also threw six touchdowns. He was a dangerous runner that year, carrying the ball 62 times for 241 yards and four touchdowns. As the team’s primary punter he kicked 21 times for a 32.9 yard average. He also returned four kickoff returns for a 21.3 yard average and returned two punts for 13 yards, while once more leading the defense.
   The Sekul led offense averaged 341.4 yards a game on the way to the championship, but the defense allowed only 5.5 points and 150.3 yards a game.
   Southern Miss has had many outstanding quarterbacks over the years, but when you look at the many ways that Sekul could hurt other teams it is easy to see why he is considered on of the best.