NEW ORLEANS (November 7, 2024) – Makhi Hughes, the star running back for the Tulane University football team, has been selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl Athlete of the Month for October. Athletes of the month have been selected by the New Orleans Sports Awards Committee since 1957. The athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region in order to be eligible.
 
Hughes had an outstanding month of October as he recorded four straight 100-yard rushing games and led the Green Wave to four straight victories. For the month, Hughes rushed 99 times for 571 yards and 6 touchdowns and caught 5 passes for 67 yards and one touchdown, averaging 142.7 yards per game rushing.
 
The Birmingham product opened the month with 119 yards and two touchdowns in a win over UAB (10/5), then added 140 yards and another rushing TD as well as catching a 29-yard touchdown pass in a win over Rice (10/19). In a victory over North Texas (10/26), he rushed for a career-high 195 yards and another TD; and then he closed the month with 117 rushing yards and two more scores in a win over Charlotte (10/31).
 
The redshirt sophomore has 193 carries for 1,056 yards this year – just the third Green Wave player to record two 1,000-yard seasons. He has scored 11 rushing touchdowns while adding a pair through the air (he has 13 catches for 125 yards total). Hughes currently ranks No. 5 in the nation in total rushing yards as Tulane has posted a 7-2 record and sits in a tie at the top of the American Athletic Conference standings.
 
Hughes and the Green Wave host Temple University for Homecoming on Saturday at 3 p.m. That game will be a rematch of the first Sugar Bowl from January 1, 1935, when the Green Wave upended the Owls, 20-14.
 
The Tulane star won the monthly honor over two other college football stars, a dominant high school quarterback, a college volleyball standout, and a pair of national champion tennis players.

• Aaron Anderson, a 2022 graduate of Edna Karr High School, has developed into one of the top receivers for the LSU football team. In three October games, the redshirt sophomore recorded nine catches for 243 yards and a pair of touchdowns. His top game was a 126-yard performance, including a 76-yard touchdown catch, in the Oct. 26 game against Texas A&M. Anderson, who began his career at Alabama, transferred to LSU last year and saw action in 11 games. This season, he's second on the Tigers in receiving yards (614) and receiving touchdowns (3) and third in receptions (36).
• John Johnson, a junior quarterback who led the undefeated Edna Karr football team to four victories in the month of October, completed 63-of-88 passes (71.5%) for 1,143 yards and 14 total touchdowns. On Oct. 24, he passed for 311 yards and five TDs to lead the Cougars to a 62-16 win over Warren Easton. In a 21-9 win over Jesuit on Oct. 18, he accounted for all three Karr TDs while completing 22-of-34 passes for 287 yards. He opened the month by connecting on 13-of-19 passes for 273 yards and two TDs while also running for 103 yards in a 34-13 win over St. Aug (Oct. 4) as he was named the GNO Quarterback Club Prep Player of the Week. He also threw for 272 yards with two passing and two rushing TDs in a 42-14 win over Brother Martin (Oct. 11).
• Mbali Langa and McKenna Wheatley from the Xavier University of Louisiana women's tennis team won the NAIA national doubles title at ITA Cup Championships in Rome, Ga. (Oct. 10-13). The duo won four ITA Cup matches in four days and also added three doubles victories against NCAA Division I opponents at the Red River Invitational in Bossier City, La. For the fall season, the pair posted a perfect 11-0 mark. Wheatley, who is a junior from Madison, Miss., is a niece of Donald "Slick" Watts, a XULA basketball star and a 1996 inductee of the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame. Langa is fifth-year student from Johannesburg, Miss.
• Caleb Spann, a 2021 graduate of John Curtis Christian School, is the second leading tackler for Central Michigan this year. He has recorded 43 tackles for the Chippewas, including 22 takedowns in the month of October. He registered a career-best 12 tackles in the Oct. 19 game against Eastern Michigan.
• Nia Washington, a 2022 graduate of Metairie Park Country Day School, had an outstanding month of October with 150 kills in nine matches for the Ole Miss volleyball team. The junior outside hitter recorded double digits in eight of the nine matches, including a career-best 28 in a victory over LSU (Oct. 6). She also recorded 20 or more kills against Tennessee, Georgia, and Mississippi State. The 5-10 Washington leads the team with 281 kills and also has 21 service aces (second on the team), 154 digs, and 30 blocks.

The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 107 Hall of Fame players, 52 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 90-year history. The 91st Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Quarterfinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2025. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.5 billion into the local economy in the last decade.