College Sports Journal FBS Group of Five National Players of the Week Oct. 15
Five players including McKenzie Milton from UCF, Mason Fine from North Texas, Michael Gallup from Colorado State, Kaare Vedvik from Marshall, and Austin Hall from Memphis have been selected as the College Sports Journal All-Stars for the week ending October 15th, 2017 from the NCAA Division I FBS Group of Five schools.
The honorees are listed here with their achievements and their school, position, class, and hometown.
McKenzie Milton, UCF, QB, So., Kapolei, Hawaii
Milton led a UCF offense that gained 603 yards and had 33 first downs in a 63-21 win against ECU, helping the Knights to their first 5-0 start as a Division I program. Milton completed 21 of 27 passes (77.8 percent) for 324 yards and touchdowns of 48 and 4 yards while adding a rushing touchdown before coming out of the game midway through the third quarter. Milton is ranked second nationally in passing efficiency (203.6) this season.
Mason FIne, North Texas, QB, So., Locust Grove, Oklahoma
Fine led an impressive game-winning drive for North Texas, while also completing 20-of-34 passes for 354 yards and three touchdowns, along with a rushing TD. With UTSA leading 26-22 with 1:07 remaining, Fine orchestrated a 98-yard touchdown drive in less than a minute, with no timeouts, to lead North Texas to a 29-26 win. The Mean Green were pinned deep inside their own five yard line, and Fine completed 5-of-6 passes on the drive, including a 49-yard strike to Michael Lawrence to put the ball on the UTSA 31. He connected with Rico Bussey, Jr. for a 22-yard touchdown to go ahead, 29-26 with just 10 seconds to play. The Mean Green are now 3-0 in conference play for the first time since 2004, heading into a matchup at Florida Atlantic, which is also unbeaten in league play.
Michael Gallup, Colorado State, WR, Sr., Monroe, Georgia
Gallup caught 13 passes for 263 yards and three touchdowns in Colorado State’s 44-42 home win over Mountain West opponent Nevada. He set a career high in receiving yards and tied his career best in touchdowns and receptions. He scored the Rams’ first two touchdowns of the game on receptions of 56 and seven yards.With CSU trailing by four in the fourth quarter, hauled in a 17-yard touchdown reception for the game-winning score.
Kaare Vedvik, Marshall, K/P, Sr., Stavanger, Norway
Vedvik made national headlines Saturday, launching the longest FBS punt in 45 years with a 92-yarder in the 35-3 win over Old Dominion. It goes down as the seventh-longest punt in FBS history and was the longest since Hall of Fame punter Ray Guy of Southern Miss had a 93-yarder in 1972. On the afternoon, he averaged 48.5 yards per punt, with two that were downed inside the 20-yard line. Four of his punts were not returned. He also averaged 63.0 yards on his six kickoffs with two touchbacks and made all five of his extra-point attempts. For the season, his 44.8 yard punting average is tops in C-USA and 16th nationally.
Austin Hall, Memphis, DB/LB, Sr., Collierville, Tennessee
Hall had a hand in three turnovers to lead a Memphis defense that had five takeaways in a 30-27 win against Navy. Hall had two interceptions and a fumble recovery to go with 10 tackles and a pass breakup as Memphis held Navy’s best-in-the-nation rushing offense to 100 yards below its season average. Hall leads Memphis with 44 tackles and three interceptions this season.
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football is the Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
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