Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina collected two-thirds of the Southern Conference's weekly awards presented by GEICO on Monday as graduate transfer quarterback
Rogan Wells was named the SoCon Offensive Player of the Week and redshirt sophomore placekicker
Richard McCollum earned Special Teams Player of the Week plaudits stemming from WCU's 41-21 road win at Wofford last Saturday.
The weekly awards are the first for both Wells and McCollum in their WCU careers with the Catamounts collecting consecutive top offensive honors in back-to-back weeks after
Carlos Davis collected the honor last week. It's also the fifth-straight season that a Catamount specialist has earned a weekly award dating back to 2017. WCU's duo was joined by Mercer linebacker Lance Wise in earning the league's weekly defensive award.
Returning to the Catamount lineup after missing the last two games, Wells claims the weekly award after playing just two-plus quarters in last Saturday's dominant performance at Wofford. The Fort Mill, S.C., native accounted for 357 yards of total offense and five touchdowns in guiding the Catamounts to a 41-7 third-quarter lead before exiting the game, playing just one offensive series after halftime. Wells completed 70-percent of his passes for a QB efficiency rating of 200.52 on the day.
Wells led WCU with 48 rushing yards including a 32-yard, first-quarter scoring romp that gave the Catamounts a lead they would never relinquish. He threw for 309 yards on 21 completions with four scores through the air in the win. Wells delivered a season-long 72-yard strike to
Calvin Jones that opened a 24-point, second-quarter scoring barrage in the road win. He also twice found redshirt freshman WR
Raphael Williams with touchdown passes of nine and 27 yards as Williams set a school record with a career-best 16 catches. Wells capped his lone drive in the third quarter with a three-yard TD pass to freshman TE
Brayden Blackmon representing his first reception and first career touchdown.
Also on Monday,
Raphael Williams was listed as an
honorable mention on the Stats Perform FCS National Offensive Player of the Week.
Wells ranks second in the SoCon in both passing at 237.3 yards per game and total offense, just south of 300 yards at 291.8 yards per game. He ranks 28th in passing and 15th in total offense nationally in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision.
McCollum accounted for 11 points in Saturday's road victory, connecting on all five point-after-touchdown attempts and splitting the uprights from 37 and 23 yards, respectively. He also handled all the kickoff duties for the Catamounts at Wofford.
A product of Sanford, N.C., McCollum has hit all 26 of his PATs this season, stretching his active streak to 40-consecutive, and is 10-for-10 on field goals this year with a long of 40 coming at Gardner-Webb. He also leads the Catamounts with 56 points scored this year. McCollum currently leads the NCAA FCS in field goal percentage and is tied for 16th nationally with 1.43 field goals per game to date.
The SoCon's player of the week award winners are selected by the conference office from nominations submitted by the sports information or media relations personnel at each institution.
Winners of two-straight, Western Carolina faces its third-straight team from the Palmetto State as it hosts chromatic rival Furman at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field in Cullowhee with kickoff at 2:00 p.m. Tickets for Saturday's "Heroes Day" game are on sale now through the WCU Athletics Ticket Office on the first floor of the Ramsey Center, by phone at (828) 227-2401, and online at CatamountSports.com. Saturday's game will be broadcast on ESPN3 (cable subscription required) with live audio provided by the Catamount Sports Network with airtime of 1:00 p.m.
Keep track of everything related to Catamount football and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/CatamountSports) and Twitter (@Catamounts, @CatamountsFB).
