Abilene Christian’s McCrary, UIW’s Phillips, Lamar’s Slayton Secure Weekly Honors
FRISCO, Texas – Abilene Christian’s Billy McCrary is the Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week, Incarnate Word’s Malick Phillips is the Defensive Player of the Week, while Lamar’s Tyler Slaydon is the Special Teams Player of the Week. The league made the announcement Monday. All weekly awards are presented by Midsouth Bank.
Slaydon’s honor gives the special teams award to Lamar for a secondstraight week after the Cardinals’ Caleb Abron was recognized last Monday. McCrary’s honor is the second for a Wildcats’ player in as many weeks, with ACU’s Jeremiah Chambers claiming offensive honors seven days ago.
Abilene Christian (4-4, 3-3 in SLC) posted an impressive 48-27 win over Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond on Oct. 20. The Wildcats are idle this week. UIW (4-3, 4-1 SLC) resumed its upstart ways with a 45-17 win versus sixth-ranked McNeese. ThE victory marks the first win over a ranked opponent in UIW history. UIW joins Central Arkansas and McNeese atop the league standings, each with identical 4-1 league marks. Incarnate Word plays at Nicholls on Saturday. Meanwhile, Lamar (3-4, 2-3 SLC) claimed a league win in consecutive weeks with its 41-23 upset win over 14th-ranked Sam Houston State. LU will battle Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches on Saturday.
Offensive Player of the Week: Billy McCrary, Abilene Christian – Jr. – Running Back – Austin, Texas
McCrary ran for a career-high 222 yards and one touchdown in a 48-27 road win over Southeastern Louisiana. The junior’s rushing totals came on just 14 carries. McCrary repeatedly gashed the Lions' defense for huge gains. He had an 11-yard run in the first quarter and only got better as the game continued, picking up a 25-yard gain in the second quarter, gains of 20 and 21 yards in the third quarter and finally putting the Lions away with a 51-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
McCrary is the first ACU running back to top 200 yards in a game since De’Andre Brown went for 256 yards in a 37-35 win over SFA on Nov. 15, 2014. McCrary’s effort helped the Wildcats post 612 yards of total offense and win for the first time in the state of Louisiana since they beat Elon (N.C.) on Dec. 8, 1973, in Shreveport to win the NAIA Division I national championship.
Honorable Mention: Jon Copeland, UIW; Myles Wanza, Lamar
Defensive Players of the Week: Malick Phillips, UIW – So. – Cornerback – Orange, Texas
Phillips was a key part of a Cardinals’ defense that held sixth-ranked McNeese to just 222 yards of total offense, 90 yards below its season average. On the third play of the game, Phillips intercepted a McNeese pass at the Cowboy 27-yard line. Six plays later, the Cardinals took a 7-0 advantage and never looked back.
That interception was just the beginning for Phillips, who was all over the field for UIW on Saturday night. Phillips finished with five tackles, three key pass breakups, and a fumble recovery on special teams that gave UIW the ball back and led to another touchdown as the Cardinals took a 28-3 lead. With Phillips’ help, the Cardinals scored 21 points off turnovers on a McNeese team that had allowed just 34 points off turnovers in the previous six games combined.
Honorable Mention: Davon Jernigan, Lamar; Rayshad Nichols, Stephen F. Austin
Special Teams Player of the Week: Tyler Slaydon, Lamar – Jr. – Punter – Bryan, Texas
Slaydon averaged nearly 45 yards on six punts to help the Cardinals win the field position battle and upset No. 14 Sam Houston.
The junior placed two punts inside the Bearkats’ 20-yard line to give the visitors and their high-powered offense a long field.
Honorable Mention: None
Southland weekly award winners are nominated and voted upon by each school’s sports information director. Voting for one’s own athlete is not permitted. To earn honorable mention, a student-athlete must appear on 25 percent of ballots.