Spartanburg, SC — Wofford running back Gerald Modest Jr. was named Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Monday after a career day in the Tdawgs’ 41-14 Homecoming win over VMI at Gibbs Stadium.
Modest, a junior from Miami, Florida, led the Terriers with a career-high 173 rushing yards on 20 carries and scored a career-best three rushing touchdowns. He added three catches for 17 yards for 190 all-purpose yards. It was his third 100-yard rushing game of the season and of his career.
His first two scores came in the second quarter as Wofford erased an early 14-3 deficit. A 12-yard run capped an 11-play drive to make it 14-10, and a 5-yard run gave the Old Gold and Black a 17-14 lead. Right after Eli Campbell blocked a VMI field goal try to open the second half, Modest went 65 yards up the middle on second down for a touchdown and a 31-14 lead. That run was the longest of his career and the longest by a Terrier since 2023.
Modest’s afternoon powered a Wofford offense that piled up a season-high 514 total yards as the Terriers scored the final 38 points of the game. The win moved Wofford to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the SoCon heading into the bye week.
Saturday capped a big start to the season for Modest. Through eight games he has 732 rushing yards on 149 carries, good for 4.9 yards per carry and 91.5 yards per game, with eight rushing touchdowns. If he maintains his current pace, he will finish the season with 1,109 rushing yards, which would make him Wofford’s first 1,000 yard rusher since 2016. He currently leads the SoCon in rushing yards and is tied with Mercer’s JP Pickles for the league lead in rushing touchdowns. His 732 yards also rank ninth nationally in the FCS.
Modest has three 100-yard games this fall, with 107 yards in the opener against The Citadel, 107 in the 16-0 shutout at Elon and 173 against VMI. He has also caught 14 passes for 132 yards, and his 864 all-purpose yards rank second in the league, two yards behind ETSU’s TJ Peyton. His eight total touchdowns are second in the SoCon behind JP Pickles’ nine, and the junior has already passed his 2025 totals of 567 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns. Modest entered the season as a first-team preseason All-SoCon pick by Phil Steele and a second-team pick by the league’s coaches. In 2025, Phil Steele named him third-team All-SoCon.
This is the first SoCon weekly honor of Modest’s career and the fourth weekly honor for Wofford football this season. Mercer linebacker Jyarius Carter was named SoCon Defensive Player of the Week, and Samford kicker Ty Ippolito took Special Teams Player of the Week.
After the bye, the Tdawgs play two straight on the road, starting at Samford on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN+ and Nexstar, then at Western Carolina. Wofford returns to Gibbs Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 14, to host ETSU.