A Little Defensive Love

I am aware of the fact that my weekly Player of the Week posts are rather offense heavy. Surely you all can understand to some extent - all i need to do is pull up a box score to find an impressive offensive performance. In order to take note of a solid defensive performance, I need at the very least a recap from the MAC website.

Tahir Whitehead out at Temple (32 tackles, 10 for a loss, four sacks, four forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries) and Khalil Mack (42 tackles, 12 for loss, 3.5 sacks, four forced fumbles and an interception) have each had a pretty impressive season - definitely leading the pack for the conference's defensive player of the year, maybe even an outside shot at overall player of the year (with the important voters, not just here at Hustle Belt).

That being said, I wanted to show a little love to a few other impressive players this  season. To the jump!

Then we've got Roosevelt Nix, doing yeoman's work for Kent State. He has only recorded 23 tackles to go with his 10 tackles for loss and three forced fumbles. However, I consider his performance extra impressive given how much time he and his defensive companions have spent on the field trying to cover for the team's offensive deficiencies.

Lastly I'll mention Akron linebacker Brian Wagner. He has only recorded one tackle for a loss and one forced fumble, but he leads the conference with a whopping 81 tackles in only six games. Granted, when your defense is on the field as often as Akron's, someone has to tackle the ball-carrier, but being on pace for 160 tackles is still pretty impressive either way.

There, some love for the defense. Add anyone you feel I may have missed (besides Jaleel Addae) in the comments.