DALLAS – Following a career night in which he caught the first three touchdowns of his career, North Texas redshirt junior TE Jason Pirtle earns the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week award.  The Defensive Player of the Week honor went to UAB senior DL Garrett Marino, who preserved UAB’s opening night victory with back-to-back tackles at the goal line late in the fourth quarter as part of his team-high nine tackle showing.  The Special Teams Player of the Week award was given to Southern Miss KR/PR Jaylond Adams, who provided the rare feat of scoring on a kickoff return (89 yards) and a punt return (80 yards) in the same game.  C-USA Football Players of the Week are voted on by a panel of the league’s media.  All C-USA weekly awards are presented by Top of the World Headwear.

Sept 2 2019 FB POW Release (pdf)
 
Pirtle hauled in four catches for 88 yards and three touchdowns in North Texas’ 51-31 win over Abilene Christian to open the season on Saturday night.  His first touchdown of the night was the first of his career and came on the first play from scrimmage for the Mean Green. Pirtle’s touchdowns came from distances of 32, 17 and 12 yards.  The Locust Grove, Oklahoma native’s three touchdowns in a single game tied for the second-most in program history.  Pirtle was the only tight end in the FBS to catch three touchdowns passes on the opening weekend of the season and just four players scored more TD’s.
 
Marino had a career-high and team-high nine tackles in a 24-19 victory over Alabama State on August 29.  No two tackles were bigger than his back-to-back stops during a goal-line stand in the fourth quarter which preserved UAB’s 24-19 lead.  The Mission Viejo, California native also added a tackle for loss to his stat line as the Blazers won their 13th consecutive home game.
 
Adams opened the season by returning a kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and then later tallied an 80-yard score on a punt return in the win over Alcorn State.  In addition, he added three catches for 21 yards and returned two punts for a total of 93 yards to finish the day with 203 all-purpose yards.  His kickoff return for a score was the first for a Golden Eagles since the 2015 season and his punt return for a TD was the first for a Golden Eagle since the opening game last season.  Adams became the first Golden Eagle to score on a kickoff which was the first offensive touch of the game for Southern Miss since Francisco Llanos returned a kick 87 yards against Tulsa (11/26/10), after the Golden Hurricane scored on the game’s initial drive.  The Adamsville, Alabama native is also the first Southern Miss player to have a touchdown on both a kickoff and punt return in the same season since Tracy Lampley in 2009 and the first player to record two special team return touchdowns in the same game since James Henry accomplished that feat against UTEP in the 1988 Independence Bowl.
 
2019 WINNERS:
Offensive Player of the Week – Sept. 2 – Jason Pirtle, TE, North Texas.
Defensive Player of the Week – Sept. 2 –Garrett Marino, DL, UAB
Special Teams Player of the Week – Sept. 2 – Jaylond Adams, KR/PR, Southern Miss.