Brown Earns Second Big South Conference Defensive Player of the Week Honor
October 16, 2006 | Football
CHARLOTTE - Sophomore linebacker Mario E. Brown was named Big
South Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the second game
in a row Monday afternoon.
Brown, a 6-foot-2, 234-pounder, led Gardner-Webb with 13 tackles
(five solo), a sack and two pass break ups Saturday night in a win
over Glenville (WVa.) State. The Greenville, S.C., native
spearheaded a Gardner-Webb defense that held the Pioneers to just
180 total offensive yards after the first drive of the game - and
just 78 total offensive yards and 37 rushing yards in the second
half.
The effort marked the first time in 14 games that GWU's defense
held an opponent under 300 yards of total offense.
Brown is averaging 19.0 tackles over his last two games, and now
leads the Big South Conference with 64 stops and 10.8 tackles per
outing. The former J.L. Mann standout leads the Bulldogs with 6.5
tackles for loss, three sacks, three interceptions and seven total
passes defended.
Two weeks ago, Brown collected 25 tackles (15 solo) in GWU's 28-21
win at Southeastern Louisiana. He was named I-AA National Performer
of the Week by the College Sports Report, I-AA National Player of
the Week by The Sports Network and the Weekly Football Gazette, and
was also named a I-AA.org All-Star after his effort against
SLU.
Gardner-Webb (4-2) opens Big South play at Liberty on Saturday at 1
pm ET. The Bulldogs and Flames have averaged just 7.1 points as a
margin of victory in the last six meetings. GWU is 1-2 since moving
up to the I-AA level in Lynchburg, and are 2-2 in Big South
Conference openers since 2002.
