Hardie, Dawson awarded CUSA weekly honors

Sep. 25—A pair of Gamecocks were awarded Conference USA honors following Jacksonville State’s 21-0 shutout of Eastern Michigan on Saturday.

Defensive lineman Chris Hardie was named CUSA defensive player of the week, while punter Jack Dawson was named the conference’s special teams player of the week.

In addition to Hardie’s five total tackles (three solo), he totaled 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and a pass breakup as he helped lead the team’s defense to a shutout.

Hardie is the second JSU player to be awarded CUSA defensive player of the week honors this season, joining Jeremiah Harris after being honored Week 0.

“Well Chris has been wearing a knee brace because he’s probably not 100%,” JSU coach Rich Rodriguez said after Saturday’s game. “He’s close to it, but Chris Hardie at 90% is a really good player, I thought we got some sacks today.”

This marks Dawson’s second time being named CUSA’s special teams player of the week, adding to his honor in Week 0.

Dawson punted five times for a total of 205 yards, averaging 41 yards per punt. Four of his punts were downed inside the 20 yard line and his longest was for 50.

With 3:39 left in the third quarter on a low snap, Dawson ran for 12 yards and a first down on fourth and 9 to give JSU a first down.

“I saw him start running. I’m like, ‘It may take this dude 18 seconds to get a first down,’ you got to be wide open,” Rodrigiuez said on Dawson’s running play Saturday. “My main thought was, ‘does he know where the stick is? Does he know where the first down marker is, because he probably slide right after it,’ and he did. That was a big play, I’m pretty proud of Jack.”

Sports Writer Thomas Ashworth: 256-236-1551. On Twitter: @ThomasAshworth0.