University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wide receiver Joel Bradford was named the Southern Conference offensive player of the week today following his 15-catch, 274-yard performance last Saturday at Furman.
Meanwhile, the Mocs’ 36-28 comeback win over then-No. 25 Furman has pushed UTC (5-2, 4-1 SoCon) up four spots to No. 20 in the Sports Network poll and earned it the No. 23 spot in the FCS coaches’ poll.
The Mocs broke into the SN poll last week – the program’s first ranking since 1997 – but were a few votes shy of making the coaches’ Top 25 last week.
Bradford shared player of the week honors earlier this season, following his 254-yard game against Eastern Kentucky on Sept. 20. That set a new school record, which the redshirt junior broke against the Paladins.
Bradford’s 254- and 274-yard receiving games are Nos. 1 and 2 in the FCS this season.
Through seven games he has 55 catches for 875 yards and five touchdowns. He needs just 186 receiving yards in the Mocs’ final four games to pass Alonzo Nix’s single-season yardage record of 1,060, set in 2003.
For more on the Mocs, see tomorrow’s Times Free Press.
You can follow John Frierson’s Mocs coverage at twitter.com/mocsbeat.