MAC announces Week 8 POTW

The Mid-American Conference has announced its Week 8 Players of the Week.

East Division honorees are: Van Edwards (RB, Akron); Tarell Basham (DE, Ohio) and Kyle Kramer (P, Miami).
West Division honorees are: Cody Thompson (WR, Toledo); Robert Spillane (LB, Western Michigan) and Aregeros Turner (KR, Northern Illinois)
 
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East Division
Offensive Player of the Week: Akron RB Van Edwards
Akron sophomore running back Van Edwards (Cape Coral, Fla.) had a career-high 112 yards rushing and one touchdown in a 35-25 win at Ball State.  Edwards had career-highs with his 16 carries for a career-high 112 yards and a touchdown.  It marked the first 100-yard rushing performance of his career. In seven games, Edwards has 55 carries for 322 yards and two touchdowns.
 
Defensive Player of the Week: Ohio DE Tarell Basham
Ohio senior defensive end Tarell Basham (Rocky Mount, Va.) led with a career high nine tackles, including seven solo stops, in a 14-10 win at Kent State Saturday. Basham also recorded a sack and two tackles for loss, which place him at fifth all-time at Ohio with a league leading 7.5 sacks this season. Basham is currently the career leader at Ohio with 25.5 career sacks and is currently fifth in active career leaders in the NCAA.
 
Special Teams Player of the Week:  Miami P Kyle Kramer
Miami redshirt freshman Kyle Kramer (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) had a career-best seven punts for 293 yards for an average of 41.9 per punt in a 40-26 win at Bowling Green. He had four of his seven punts downed inside the 20 and in fact had three punts downed inside the Bowling Green 11-yard line with zero touchbacks.

West Division
Offensive Player of the Week: Toledo WR Cody Thompson
Toledo junior wide receiver Cody Thompson (Huron, Ohio) tied his career high with seven catches for a game-high 122 yards and a career best four touchdowns in a 31-17 win over Central Michigan.  His four touchdowns rank as the second most in school history in a single game behind Eric Page, who holds the school record with five touchdown receptions vs. Northern Illinois on Nov. 1, 2011. Thompson was credited with a 34-yard touchdown reception and an 11-yard touchdown catch in the fourth period, as well as a pair of 16-yard scoring receptions in the third, respectively. He has now recorded a touchdown catch in all but one game this season. It was Thompson’s second career multi-touchdown effort. He also surpassed the century mark for the fifth time this year. Through seven games, Thompson has 844 yards receiving and nine touchdown catches, the 14th- and tied for third-highest totals in school record in a single season, respectively.
 
Defensive Player of the Week:  Western Michigan LB Robert Spillane
Western Michigan junior linebacker Robert Spillane (Oak Park, Ill.) had a career-high 14 tackles, including a tackle for loss in No. 20 Western Michigan’s 45-31 win over Eastern Michigan on Saturday. Spillane’s 14 tackles are the most by a Bronco this season, and the most by any player in the program since Justin Currie. For the year, Spillane leads the Broncos in tackles with 71 tackles, a new career-high for him for a season. The total is also good for fifth in the MAC this year.
 
Special Teams Player of the Week: Northern Illinois KR Aregeros Turner
Northern Illinois senior kick returner Aregeros Turner (Akron, Ohio) took the opening kickoff back 97 yards for a touchdown to spark the Huskies in a 44-7 win over Buffalo. Turner’s kickoff return for a touchdown was the third of his career and gave NIU just its third first-quarter touchdown of the season.  He added two catches for 32 yards and three carries for 10 yards in the game.  Turner has now scored rushing, receiving and via return in 2016. He is averaging 27.7 yards per return to lead the MAC and rank 16th in the country.