This week's Missouri Valley Conference Players of the Week include QB Jason Shelley of Missouri State; LB Zeke Vandenburgh of Illinois State; RB Jacardia Wright of Missouri State; and KR Jalen Carr of Illinois State.
Offensive Player of the Week
QB Jason Shelley, Missouri State
5-11, 200, Sr., Frisco, Texas, Lone Star High/Utah State
Shelley had as many touchdown passes as incompletions in Missouri State's win over No. 14 UT Martin this week. The senior QB was 19-for-24 for 297 yards and a career-high 5 touchdowns, which tied a Bears single-game record. Shelley's 14th straight 200-yard passing game included two clutch fourth-quarter TD passes to Ty Scott, the first of which put the Bears up for good and capped a 63-yard scoring drive. On fourth-and-one at the UTM 7-yard line, Shelley and the Bears went for the go-ahead score, and it paid off with a fade to Scott in the left corner to make it 28-24. Just over five minutes later, he hit Scott again, this time on a 22-yard crossing route, to put things out of reach, 35-24, with 4:37 to go.
Defensive Player of the Week
LB Zeke Vandenburgh, Illinois State
6-3, 235, Sr., Freeport, Ill./Freeport High
Vandenburgh played a huge part in helping Illinois State hold on for a 28-21 victory over Valparaiso on Saturday night. The Freeport, Ill., native led the team with 12 tackles, recorded a career-best three sacks, tied a career-high with 3.0 TFLs and added a forced fumble in the win for the Redbirds. Vandenburgh has now recorded double-digit tackle efforts in the first two games of the season for ISU. His final sack of the game was one of the biggest defensive plays of the contest, as he took down Valparaiso’s Mason Kaplan for the third time with just 23 seconds left on the clock and that led to the game-sealing interception on the next play by Franky West.
Special Teams Player of the Week
KR Jalen Carr, Illinois State
5-9, 175, So., Orlando, Fla./Orlando Christian Prep High
Sophomore Jalen Carr stepped up when the Redbirds needed him the most and helped the Redbirds to a 28-21 victory over Valparaiso Saturday night. After the Beacons took a 14-7 after recovering a muffed punt in the endzone early in the second quarter, Carr took the ensuing kickoff 98 yards to the house for a touchdown to knot the game at 14-14 just seconds later. Carr’s kickoff return for a touchdown was the first for the Redbirds since 2017, when Christian Uphoff returned one 100 yards for a score at South Dakota State.
Newcomer of the Week
RB Jacardia Wright, Missouri State
RB, 6-0, 220, So., Decatur, Ill., St. Teresa High/Kansas State
The transfer running back from Kansas State logged his first career 100-yard rushing game in MSU's win over No. 14 UT Martin this week, carrying 23 times for 120 yards (5.2 yards per carry) in a breakout effort. He also scored on a 19-yard pass from Jason Shelley with 35 seconds left in the first half to put the Bears up 21-14 at the half. Including his 4 pass receptions for 42 yards, Wright had 162 all-purpose yards for the game and became the first MSU player since last November (Kevon Latulas on 11/20/21) to rack up 100 rushing yards in the game. His game-high 47-yard rush is the longest run from scrimmage by an MSU player since a 67-yard run by Latulas at SIU (11/6/21). He is the fourth different MSU player under coach Bobby Petrino to record a 100-yard rushing game.
OTHERS CONSIDERED
QB Demeatric Crenshaw, Youngstown State -- Crenshaw tied a school record with five touchdown passes in YSU's 49-16 win over Dayton. Crenshaw completed 11-of-17 passes for a career-best 230 yards in the contest against the Flyers. He had touchdown passes of 3, 17, 27, 30 and 52 yards in the victory. He had three touchdown passes in the first quarter as the Guins jumped out to a 21-0 lead. His fourth TD toss made the game 28-3 while his final scoring throw of 30 yards put YSU in front 42-16. He tied the mark set by Kurt Hess on Nov. 19, 2011 against Missouri State.
QB Tommy Schuster, North Dakota -- Went 21-of-24 passing for 297 yards through the air for two touchdowns while allowing one interception. He now has completed the most passes in UND’s Division I history with 429, breaking the previous record of Keaton Studsrud (2014-17) with 428. Schuster also rushed seven times for 11 yards and had a rushing touchdown. Successfully converted a two-point conversion with his feet to put UND up 22-13 to give the Hawks a two-score lead early in the fourth quarter.
WR Deion McShane, UNI -- McShane toppled his career record in receiving yards per game with 157 yards against North Dakota. His previous game high was 117 yards, which he tallied in 2018. He also reeled in a career long reception with 72 yards resulting in a touchdown. The new record reception was the only play in the scoring drive that brought UNI within two points of UND.
CB Myles Harden, South Dakota -- Harden forced two turnovers and recorded a career-high eight tackles during South Dakota’s bout with No. 2/3 Montana Saturday in Missoula. He stripped and recovered a fumble inside the red zone early in the second quarter and intercepted Lucas Johnson early in the fourth. Of Harden’s eight tackles, two were behind the line-of-scrimmage.
LB Spencer Cuvelier, UNI -- Cuvelier led UNI in tackles in the game against North Dakota. He notched seven solo tackles, including a sack that pushed UND back 16 yards and led to a drive that forced the Fighting Hawks to punt.
DL Kevin Ellis, Missouri State -- Ellis racked up a team-high 7 tackles in the Bears' home win over No. 14-ranked UT Martin this week, including two impactful third down stops. His first third-down tackle led to a Skyhawks punt and the second led to a third-quarter defensive stand that against kept UTM out of the end zone. Ellis notched a game-high 2.0 tackles for loss and also broke up a pass.
DB Quincy Lenton, Youngstown State -- Lenton had five tackles, 2.5 TFLs and an interception in the Penguins' 49-16 win against Dayton. YSU led 7-0 before his interception and 22-yard return help set up the Guins' second score of the game. He had TFLs in the second and fourth quarter of the victory.
LB Josh Navratil, North Dakota -- Led UND with two sacks in key moments of the game, which is a career high to go with four tackles on the day. Sacked Theo Day to force a UNI field goal when the Panthers were driving to only allow them to go up 13-7. Helped the Hawks force another Panther field goal in the third quarter, dropping Day for a second time and forcing the 47-yard field goal, which was missed. UND continued to lead 14-13 at that point.
DE Spencer Waege, North Dakota State -- Waege tied a career-high with 3.0 tackles for loss in North Dakota State’s 43-3 win over North Carolina A&T. Waege’s strip sack set up a 5-play, 31-yard scoring drive early in the second quarter. He finished with two sacks and a quarterback hurry.
KR Kobe Johnson, North Dakota State -- Johnson averaged 45.0 yards per return on two kickoff returns in North Dakota State’s 43-3 win over North Carolina A&T. Johnson took the game’s opening kick 48 yards from the end zone to spark a four-play, 52-yard scoring drive for a 7-0 lead. After an A&T field goal, Johnson went 42 yards and set up a six-play, 54-yard scoring drive.
RB Vance McShane, UNI -- In his first career kickoff return, Vance McShane led the Panthers in return yards with 27. McShane has been on the receiving end of punt returns, but this was his first yards recorded from a kickoff.
P Cade Peterson, North Dakota -- Recorded two punts on the afternoon for 61 yards, averaging 30.5 yards per punt. Forced UNI to start its second drive from its own 10-yard line.
DL Siale Suliafu, Missouri State -- Suliafu went viral and put the Bears on SportsCenter with his career-best 34-yard kickoff return in the second quarter of Thursday's win over No. 14 UT Martin. His rumblin', bumblin', stumblin' return started at his own 20 on a sky kick and finished at the Skyhawks' 41. Five plays later, the good field position led to the Bears scoring a touchdown with just 35 seconds left in the opening half to take a 21-14 into the intermission.
QB Zack Annexstad, Illinois State -- Annexstad led the Redbirds to a 28-21 victory over Valparaiso in the home opener for the Redbirds on Saturday night. The former Golden Gopher accounted for three touchdowns and passed for 196 yards in the victory for ISU. He completed nearly 64 percent of his passes against the Beacons, and completed passes to nine different receivers. Annexstad had touchdown passes of 35 yards to Nigel White and 23 yards to Bryson Deming and also ran one in from eight yards out to lead the Redbirds to victory.
QB Cole Payton, North Dakota State -- One of 10 ball carriers used in the game, Payton rushed for a team-high 41 yards on four carries with one touchdown in North Dakota State’s 43-3 win over North Carolina A&T. Payton averaged 10.2 yards per carry with a long of 26 yards. He scored on a 6-yard run and added a 2-point conversion on the ground to give NDSU an early 15-3 lead. Payton also went 4 of 4 passing for 22 yards in a backup role.
WR Max Tomczak, Youngstown State -- Tomczak caught three passes for 92 yards and a touchdown in the Penguins' 49-16 victory over Dayton. He had receptions of 33, 32 and 27 in the contest. He had the first touchdown reception of his career in the second quarter.
WR Caden Dennis, North Dakota -- The true freshman had his first career reception, a 30-yard grab, in the win against No. 24 UNI.