University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior linebacker Nakevion Leslie was named the Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Week, the league office announced today. Leslie had a career-high 19 tackles in a losing effort at eighth-ranked The Citadel over the weekend.
This is the second SoCon honor for Leslie this season and the third of his career. He also earned honorable mention national honors from STATS.com.
Leslie was credited with five solo stops and 14 assists for his third game of at least 10 tackles this season.
His 19 stops were the most for at UTC defender since Ryan Consiglio had that many in 2011.
Chattanooga has won six SoCon Player of the Week awards in 2016, the most of any school in the league. It is also the seventh time this season a Moc has earned national weekly recognition.
The Mocs (6-1, 4-1 SoCon) lost the matchup between two top 10 teams 22-14. The Bulldogs came into the game averaging an FCS-leading 388 rushing yards per outing, but UTC held them to 40 yards off their average and over a full touchdown below their usual scoring output.
Chattanooga fell to No. 8 in the FCS Coaches Top 25 and 11 in the STATS Poll. The Mocs are back home this weekend for the Hamilton County Education Day against VMI (3-3, 1-2 SoCon) at Finley Stadium. Game time is set for 2:00 p.m. (E.D.T.) on Saturday, Oct. 22.
Tickets are on sale now on GoMocs.com or by calling the UTC Ticket Office at (423) 266-Mocs (6627).