MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Junior tight end AJ Daniels along with the Southwestern University football team's offensive line were all named to the D3football.com National Team of the Week on Tuesday morning.
Daniels caught a 42-yard touchdown pass and threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to his quarterback Frederick Hover in Southwestern's 60-31 win vs. Belhaven.
The line, which consisted of sophomore Alex Phan, junior James Smat, junior Cole Atteberry, junior David-Alvin Quinton, and sophomore T.J. Vela, along with Daniels in blocking sets, racked up a season-high 689 yards of total offense in a 60-31 win at Belhaven.
The Pirates rushed for 410 yards, throwing for 279, and were 10 of 13 on third downs while averaging 8.7 yards per play. The SU offense had Hover throw and rush for more than 200 yards, eventually earning 444 yards of offense on his own and seven scores, freshman Elijah Smith rush for 96 and a touchdown, and freshman David Brandenburg rush for 86.
It is the first time the Pirates have had someone named to D3football Team of the Week since Brandon Fleischmann was named to the team on November 1st last season. It is the first time the offensive line earned the honor since September 13th of last season.
Southwestern will go into their bye week next weekend before returning to action on October 28th as they travel to Abilene, Texas for their second matchup against a top five opponent this season, taking on No. 5 Hardin-Simmons at 1:30 PM.