Tifton — Ask Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes running back Nate Inman what defense was the toughest for him and his teammates this past season and he quickly tells you, “Tift County’s.”

So, since Inman led the Tiftarea in rushing during the 2005 football season, maybe it is appropriate that he is joined by a member of the Tift County Blue Devil defense, Larry Dean, as the 2005 All-Tiftarea Players of the Year.

Dean is the All-Tiftarea Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season, while Inman is the All-Tiftarea Offensive Player of the Year for the first time.

A senior, Dean will head to Columbus Monday to get ready to take part in the GACA North-South All-Star Game that will be played Thursday.

Success has come in twos for Dean. Not only did he get the All-Tiftarea honor for the second year in a row, but 2005 also saw Dean repeat as first-team All-State, as well as Region 1-AAAAA Co-Defensive Player of the Year.

“It feels good (to get the honors),” Dean said.

Tift County head coach Jay Walls said, “Larry is definitely deserving of any honor he gets because the kid works as hard as any kid I have ever coached. His love for the game is also as great as any player I have ever coached.”

The 2005 season saw Dean garner 100 total tackles, including seven for loss yardage; intercept three passes, break up six passes and recover one fumble.

Dean’s performance helped the Devils be ranked for most of the season. Tift also made it to the first round of the state playoffs, falling 6-3 to the Region 2-AAAAA champion Stephenson Jaguars. Stephenson went on to fall 14-0 in the state semifinals to eventual state champion Lowndes High.

“That was the highlight of the year for me, making the playoffs,” Dean said. “(But), the lowlight was losing in the playoffs.”

He added, “You never like to lose, but I think we did prove we were a pretty good team in that game.”

Echoing what his coach said about him, Dean said he hoped he “left a legacy of leadership and a strong work ethic” at Tift County.

“I also hope the young players will just have my love for the game,” Dean said.

The Tift senior said he is talking to various colleges about playing football at the next level.

While Dean is a repeat performer as the defensive player of the year, being named All-Tiftarea Offensive Player of the Year was a new honor for Inman.

The senior rushed for 1,602 yards in 2005 on 207 carries, an average of 7.7 yards per carry. He also caught 11 passes for 141 yards. He scored 22 touchdowns running and had one score receiving.

“I think I had a pretty good season,” Inman said. “I am just glad my best year came my senior year.”

Fitzgerald head coach Robby Pruitt feels like 2005 was a result of a lot of work by Inman.

“He improved every year and he turned into a real good football player for us,” Pruitt said.

“This season he became our go-to guy on offense. Our opponents had to really honor him up the middle and he didn’t get run down when he went to the outside. He was a lot faster than I think some people realized.”

Helping him go into the line was his strength, Pruitt pointed out.

“He was second in his class at the state weight-lifting competition last year. He has a 390-pound bench (press),” Pruitt stated.

Inman said his season’s big moment came when the Hurricanes secured their second straight Region 2-AA title with a win over the Charlton County Indians. Fitzgerald is the only team that has defeated Charlton the past two seasons as the Indians went on to win the state title in 2004 and 2005.

“That was my highlight, beating Charlton again and rushing for 200 yards (on 25 carries) against them,” Inman said.

Later in the year, the Hurricanes had to undergo a six-hour bus ride for a playoff game at Calhoun High. Calhoun won that game and advanced to the state title game against Charlton.

“That was the lowest part of the year for me, losing to Calhoun,” Inman said. “We then had that long bus ride back home to think about it.”

Inman, who said he is talking to Ohio State, Georgia Southern, West Georgia and Appalachian State, among other schools.

“Not only has Nate turned into a real good football player for us, he has also become a real good person. He has a good opportunity to go off to a college and do something special,” Pruitt said.

While he thinks about his future, Inman hopes he left behind strong values to his younger teammates.

“I hope I was a leader that inspired the younger kids to be leaders,” Inman said.

Pruitt said leadership was Inman’s biggest value to his team in 2005.

“He was one of our leaders. We had four or five games that really did a good job of giving us senior leadership and he was one of them,” Pruitt said. “Nate is very deserving of this honor.”