Four Earn Weekly Football Honors
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The Big Sky Conference has selected its football players of the week for games played on Saturday, Oct. 30. Eastern Washington running back Taiwan Jones and Sacramento State quarterback Jeff Fleming are the co-offensive players of the week. Weber State safety Jordan Brown is the defensive player of the week. Weber State punter Josh Kealamakia is the special teams player of the week.
Jones, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound junior from Antioch, Calif, rushed for 199 yards on just 14 carries and scored three touchdowns in No. 8 Eastern Washington’s 50-17 road win over Portland State. The Walter Payton Award candidate also had 62 yards on three receptions to finish with 261 all-purpose yards. Jones rushed 13 times for 196 yards and scored on runs of 71, 65 and 2 yards in the first half. Jones averaged 15.4 yards every time he touched the ball. This is the third player of the week honor this season for Jones.
Fleming a 6-4, 174-pound junior from Fullerton, Calif., completed 23-of-32 passes for 333 yards and three touchdowns to lead Sacramento State to a 40-10 road win over No. 25 Northern Arizona. Fleming as nearly perfect in the first half, completing 20-of-24 passes for 131 yards and three touchdowns. His TD passes all came in the second quarter as he connected on scores of 39 and 12 yards to Morris Norrise and 10 yards to Ron Richardson. Sacramento State built a 34-0 halftime lead as Fleming guided the Hornets to touchdown drives on five consecutive possessions. This is Fleming’s first player of the week honor.
Brown, a 6-2 senior from Brigham City, Utah, tallied eight solo tackles, 13 total tackles, an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in Weber State’s 30-21 upset of No. 7 Montana. Brown forced a first-half fumble which he recovered and returned three yards. He intercepted UM QB Justin Roper in the fourth quarter and returned it 47 yards to set up a Weber State field goal, which gave the Wildcats a 30-21 lead with 8:39 remaining.
Kealamakia, a 6-1, 195-pound true freshman from Syracuse, Utah, averaged 37.8 yards per punt on six kicks in the Wildcats win over Montana. Three times, Kealamakia pinned Montana inside its own 20-yard line. The Grizzlies failed to score on any of the drives. The Grizzlies did not have a single punt return in the game. This is the first player of the week honor for Kealamakia.
Others Nominated
OFFENSE
Russel Hill, QB, Idaho State
Chase Reynolds, RB, Montana
Denarius McGhee, QB, Montana State
Jace Davis, WR, Northern Colorado
Nick Hutter, WR, Portland State
Vai Tafuna, RB, Weber State
DEFENSE
Paul Ena, DL, Eastern Washington
Basim Hudeen, LB Idaho State
Jimmy Wilson, CB, Montana
Zach Minter, DT, Montana State
Peter Buck, LB, Sacramento State
SPECIAL TEAMS
Grant Williams, Eastern Washington
David Harrington, P, Idaho State
Dominic Gunn, Ret., Northern Colorado
Thomas Duyndam, P, Portland State
Chris Diniz, K, Sacramento State