Harvard’s Chapple Heads Up National Players Of The Week

College Sports Journal

Press Release

 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. —  Harvard's Colton Chapple, Elon's Aaron Mellette, Maine's Michael Cole, Nicholls State Jordan Piper and Eastern Washington's Shaquille Hill have been selected as the College Sports Journal/GameWornUniforms .com national players of the week for the sixth week of NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision play. 

 

 

 

Offensive Players

 

Colton Chapple, Harvard, Senior, Quarterback, 6-2, 195, Alpharetta, Georgia

 

In showdown of quarterbacks with All-American Jeff Mathews in a game expected to have strong repercussions on the Ivy League championship, Chapple rolled out 415 yards of total offense and accounted for five touchdowns in Harvard's 45-13 win at home on Saturday against Cornell.

 

Chapple was 24-of-36 for 362 yards and four TDs passing and rushed nine times for 53 yards (5.9 average) and another score as he won Ivy League player of the week honors for the second week in a row.

 

Mathews had 307 yards passing and one TD against the tough Harvard defense in the loss.

 

Chapple also had four passing TDs and one rushing score in Harvard's 52-3 victory over Holy Cross in the Crimson's annual Friday-night game the week before, with 260 yards passing and 20 yards rushing.

 

Starting full-time finally in his last year, Chapple completed his first 12 passes. He is second nationally in passing efficiency and is the only quarterback in Harvard history to record four games with at least four touchdown passes (four at Cornell in 2011, five vs. Bucknell in 2011, four vs. Holy Cross and Cornell in 2012). 

 

 

Aaron Mellette, Elon, Senior, Wide Receiver, 6-4, 220, Sanford, N.C.

 

Considered the potential top NFL draft choice next spring from the FCS ranks, Mellette almost single-handedly kept Elon in its game at Appalachian State last Saturday before the Phoenix dropped the Southern Conference contest, 35-23.

 

He hauled in 13 passes for 237 yards (18.2 average) and three touchdowns of 11, 59 and 35 yards to pull Elon within a 28-23 deficit in the fourth quarter against a tough ASU defense.

 

Despite constant double coverage and other specialty defenses designed to stop him, Mellette has 50 catches for 660 yards and an FCS-best 10 receiving touchdowns. He is sixth in receptions per game, eighth in receiving yards per contest and tied for ninth overall in scoring.

 

Defensive Players

 

Michael Cole, Maine, Junior, Defensive End, 6-2, 250, North Brunswick, N.J.

 

Cole was a major reason why Maine knocked off No. 21 Delaware, 26-3, on Saturday in a key Colonial Athletic Association game, coming up with an FCS-single-game best of five sacks.

 

Cole finished with nine tackles, seven on solo stops and two assists, while his five sacks accounted for 41 yards of losses.

 

The CAA defensive player of the week leads the country with seven sacks in five games and he has 21 for his career. His seven sack have resulted in 59 yards of losses this season.

 

 

Jordan Piper, Nicholls State, Senior, Linebacker, 5-9, 242, Ponchatoula, Louisiana

 

Piper had an incredible game as Nicholls State challenged No. 22-ranked Central Arkansas before losing 34-14 on Saturday night on the road.

 

He piled up a career-high 23 tackles to tie Rusty Rebowe's school record, set in 1977 against Southeastern Louisiana.

 

Piper had 14 solo stops and nine assists to increase his seasonal average to 12.25 tackles per game — a mark that ranks fourth nationally. The Southland Conference co-defensive player of the week assisted on one tackle for loss and recovered a fumble following an NSU sack.

 

Special Teams Player

 

Shaquille Hill, Eastern Washington, Freshman, Kick Returner/Wide Receiver, 5-10, 180, Stockton, California

 

Hill sparked a 34-point, first-half explosion for the Eagles on the way to a 55-17 Big Sky Conference victory over North Dakota with his dynamic kickoff returns.

 

With Eastern Washington ahead 13-10, Hill started a 27-3 run in 15 minutes with a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. It was the first kickoff return for a TD for the Eagles since 2010.

 

Following another UND touchdown that cut EWU's lead to 27-17, Hill struck again with a 41-yard kickoff return with 1:29 left to set up a Vernon Adams to Greg Herd scoring strike with 13 seconds on the first-half clock to make it 34-17.

 

The redshirt freshman finished with two returns for 140 yards and also caught one pass for 11 yards. He is third nationally in kickoff returns, with six returns for 224 yards and a 37.3 average.

 

EWU leads the nation in team kickoff returns with a 31.8 average.

 

The Big Sky Conference special teams player of the week was also nominated for that same award the week before when he recovered an onside kick and had a key special teams tackle as EWU rallied for two touchdowns in the final 2:19 of the game to beat Montana 32-26.

 

He also had four kickoff returns for 84 yards in the Montana game, Hill's first time returning kicks at the college level.