Monday, October 13, 2008

Independence's Smith starring for App

Before the season, one Appalachian State coach predicted that linebacker D.J. Smith, even though he was only going to be a sophomore, would end up as the Southern Conference's top defender. Smith, who is from Charlotte and starred at Independence High, spent Saturday adding a nice page to the resume he can submit when that honor is decided, collecting a game-high 16 tackles (12 solo) in ASU's 35-24 victory at Samford.

The performance tied a career high and gave Smith the Southern Conference's Defensive Player of the Week award. It was the eighth time Smith had reached double figures in 15 games.

The Mountaineers also won the offensive award, with QB Armanti Edwards selected for the second straight week. Edwards had 370 total yards, throwing for three TDs and running for another. He completed 22 of 29 passes for 307 yards.

*Western Carolina QB Zack Jaynes was picked as the SC Freshman of the Week in his first start. Although the Catamounts lost at Furman, Jaynes completed 33 of 48 passes for 302 yards and two scores. He also scored Western's other TD on a 4-yard run, and totaled 36 rushing yards.

--Stan Olson

1 comments:

Jeffrey said...

DJ Smith may be the next Dexter Coakley. But, this year, SoCon Defensive Player of the year is going to Durham's Pierre Banks. He's the leader of that defense and I bet DJ would agree with me.