DALLAS – In his first game this season, Southern Miss junior WR Quez Watkins caught seven passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Golden Eagles to a win at Troy and earn the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week award.  The Defensive Player of the Week honor went to Florida Atlantic senior LB Rashad Smith, who had six tackles, two TFL’s, a sack, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries in the Owls win at Ball State.  The Special Teams Player of the Week award was given to Southern Miss sophomore KR/PR Jaylond Adams, who had a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown (his second this season) and totaled 322 all-purpose yards at Troy.  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 16 2019 FB POW Release
 
In his first game of the season for the Golden Eagles, Watkins caught seven passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns in the win at Troy. He scored on receptions of 64 and 19 yards and also had two catches for 40 yards each in the contest.  The receiving yards were the most by any receiver in the FBS this week, are the fifth-most in a game for a Golden Eagle and mark the sixth 200-plus receiving yard outing in school history. It was the sixth 100-yard receiving game of Watkins’ career. He and Jaylond Adams became the first duo to register 100+-yards receiving in the same game since Watkins and Jordan Mitchell did it at North Texas last October and the duo produced the top two receiving yardage totals in the FBS this week.
 
Smith tallied six tackles, including a sack for a loss of eight yards, a tackle for a loss of two yards, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries, including one in the end zone to prevent a Ball State score, in the Owls’ 41-31 victory.  On BSU’s seventh play of the day, Smith recovered a fumble and had a four-yard return at the Ball State 31, which set up FAU’s first scoring drive of the game.  He later recovered a fumble in the end zone to end a possible scoring drive by the Cardinals.  The Owls would use that game-swinging momentum to drive 80 yards, score and take a 28-17 lead. In BSU’s opening drive of the fourth quarter, Smith would record a tackle and force a fumble, which FAU recovered and again used to score.
 
Adams returned his second kickoff for a touchdown this season, which encompassed a 100-yard return in the fourth quarter of the win at Troy.  It was the sixth 100-plus yard return in school history and the first since Michael Thomas returned a kickoff 100 yards against UAB in 2014.  With his two kickoff returns for touchdowns in the first three games, Adams has now tied both of the school’s single-game and career record for kickoff return touchdowns.  He totaled 136 kickoff return yards and added a five-yard punt return.  In addition to his kickoff return, Adams collected 11 catches for 180 yards, establishing career highs for both categories. He finished the game with 322 all-purpose yards – the second most ever in a game by a Golden Eagle (Sam Dejarnette had the most against Florida State with 335 in 1982).
 
2019 WINNERS:
Offensive Player of the Week – Sept. 2 – Jason Pirtle, TE, North Texas; Sept. 9 – Tyler Johnston III, QB, UAB; Sept. 16 – Quez Watkins, WR, Southern Miss.
Defensive Player of the Week – Sept. 2 –Garrett Marino, DL, UAB; Sept. 9 – Reed Blankenship, S, Middle Tennessee; Sept. 16 – Rashad Smith, LB, Florida Atlantic.
Special Teams Player of the Week – Sept. 2 – Jaylond Adams, KR/PR, Southern Miss; Sept. 9 – Cory Munson, K, WKU; Sept. 16 – Jaylond Adams, KR/PR, Southern Miss.