College Sports Journal FBS Group of Five National Players of the Week-Sept. 21
Five players including Dillon Gabriel from UCF, Elijah Mitchell from Louisiana, Tavante Beckett from Marshall, Diego Fagot from Navy, and Chris Naggar from SMU have been selected as the College Sports Journal All-Stars for the week ending Sept. 21st, 2020 from the NCAA Division I FBS Group of Five schools.
Dillon Gabriel, UCF, QB, Soph. Mililani, Hawaii
Gabriel enjoyed a career day in the Knights’ 49-21 win at the ACC’s Georgia Tech in UCF’s season-opener. Gabriel completed 27 of 41 passes for a career-high 417 yards and four touchdowns, becoming the fifth player in program history to throw for more than 400 yards with four TDs in a game. Gabriel earned the second Walter Camp of his young career after first earning the honor as a freshman last season.
Elijah Mitchell, Louisiana, RB, Sr, Erath, La.
Mitchell had a monster performance in Louisiana’s come-from-behind overtime victory over Georgia State, carrying the ball 16 times for 164 yards and two touchdowns. His performance was his 11th career game with over 100-yards and his ninth career game with two or more touchdowns. The 164 yards mark the second-highest rushing output of his career. The 164 yards is currently tied for the fourth-highest rushing output in the nation this year. His second touchdown was the game winner in overtime, a 12-yard rush. His first touchdown went for 59 yards, his longest rush since going for 65 yards against Arkansas State on Oct. 27, 2018. It was just the second touchdown of 50 or more yards in his career. With his effort, he now ranks eighth nationally in total rushing yards with 210.
Tavante Beckett, Marshall, LB, R-Sr.,Chesapeake, Va.
Beckett was all over the field Saturday for the Thundering Herd, amassing a career-high 16 tackles (eight solo) with one forced fumble in the 17-7 home win over Appalachian State. The 16 stops are the most by a Marshall man since Chase Hancock made 18 tackles against Southern Miss in 2017. Last season, App State averaged 231 rush yards per game, which ranked No. 16 in the country, and in the season opener the Mountaineers ran for 308 yards against Charlotte. On Saturday the Herd, led by co-captain Beckett, held them to 96 yards on 33 carries Saturday, their lowest total in a game since 2014. Beckett’s 24 tackles in two games ranks second among all FBS players this season.
Diego Fagot, Navy, LB. Jr., Snellville, Ga.
Fagot led a Navy defense that held Tulane to 82 total yards and no points in the second half, allowing the Midshipmen to rally for a 27-24 road victory in the American Athletic Conference opener. Fagot registered nine tackles to go with 2.0 tackles for loss, a sack and two pass breakups as Navy overcame the largest deficit to win in program history (24 points).
Chris Naggar, SMU, K, Sr., Arlington, Texas
Naggar scored 17 points in going 11-for-11 on placements as SMU took a 65-35 win at North Texas. Naggar made all three of his field goal attempts, connecting from 37, 22 and 46 yards and went 8-for-8 on PATs to rank third on The American’s single-game chart for kicker scoring.
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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