- BEST IN STATE -

Campbell QB, Elon DB, WCU kicker collect top Best In State awards this week

Camels’ signal caller threw for three TDs and rushed for two more

Eric Lusk

Published

September 10, 2023

Campbell quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams, shown here from last season, had a huge game Saturday at The Citadel. (Photo courtesy Campbell University athletics).

Campbell quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams set a school passing record a year ago, throwing for 2,221 yards and 12 touchdowns.

After two games this season, Williams has already put the passing yardage record on notice. The redshirt senior from Atlanta lit up the scoreboard at The Citadel on Saturday afternoon, completing 25-of-32 passes (78.1 percent) for 353 yards and three touchdowns. Campbell won 56-7.

Williams’ stat-stuffing performance garners him our Best In State FCS Offensive Player of the Week honors. Williams, who didn’t throw an interception, also rushed for 45 yards and two more touchdowns.

He now has 579 passing yards on the season, more than a quarter of the way toward his record with nine games to play. He’s completing 81 percent of his throws so far and has yet to throw a pick.

Williams recorded two passing touchdowns and one rushing score in the opening half, helping the Camels surge to a 35-7 advantage.

“I loved the offense and the way they took control of the game early — got the ball to our playmakers in space,” Campbell coach Mike Minter said in a post-game interview posted on Twitter. “Hajj-Malik Williams, wow. Another big day for him throwing the football and running the football.”

—> HAJJ-MALIK WILLIAMS named CAA co-offensive player of the week

We’ll admit – it was tough to pick one FCS offensive MVP this week. There were several notable candidates. We’d be remiss not to mention stellar play from a couple more quarterbacks on Saturday, Western Carolina’s Cole Gonzales and Gardner-Webb’s Matthew Caldwell.

Gonzales engineered one of the biggest upsets of the FCS season thus far, helping the Catamounts knock off defending Southern Conference champion Samford, a top 10 team, by a commanding 30-7 final. The sophomore threw for 262 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Caldwell completed 32 passes for 296 yards and a pair of touchdowns, helping the Bulldogs survive a 34-27 thriller against Elon. Caldwell’s final pass, to Ephraim Floyd, turned into the game-winning touchdown with 14 seconds left, breaking a tie game.

Western’s Desmond Reid, who rushed for 170 yards against what is usually a stout Samford defense, also received consideration for player of the week honors. Reid did earn SoCon Player of the Week recognition.

Collectively, North Carolina Central’s Latrell Collier and Davius Richard had big days in the Eagles’ win over NC A&T. Both players rushed for 95 yards and both scored two rushing TDs.

FCS Defensive Player of the Week

Jaidyn Denis | Elon LB

While we tip our cap to Gardner-Webb’s Ty French for breaking the Big South career sack record, we’ll give this week’s defensive MVP honor to the Elon junior from Charlotte.

The Mallard Creek High School product kept the Phoenix in contention against nationally ranked Gardner-Webb. Denis made eight solo tackles and had two more assists (breaking his own career mark for tackles in a game). He forced two fumbles, one of which he pounced on.

Denis is the first Elon player to force two fumbles in a game since Devonte Chandler did it against Towson last season.

Also noteworthy, NC Central’s Jayden Flaker had a strip sack and a fumble recovery to set up an Eagles field goal, plus four solo tackles in Saturday’s rivalry win. Western’s Jayelin Davis posted four tackles, 1.5 sacks and a fumble recovery.

FCS Special Teams Player of the Week

Richard McCollum | Western Carolina

Our preseason Best In State FCS special teams MVP is garnering points toward the post-season award as well.

McCollum outscored Samford by himself, netting 12 of the Catamounts’ 30 points. He hit field goals from 23, 41 and 18 yards, while also converting three PATs.

Western Carolina had a 14-7 lead when severe storms in Cullowhee forced a more-than five hour delay. Two of McCollum’s field goals came in the final 98 seconds of the first half after play resumed, giving the Catamounts a more comfortable advantage heading into the break.

McCollum is from Sanford, NC and played high school football at Southern Lee.

Also of note on Saturday, NC A&T’s Taymon Cooke returned a kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown against NC Central. That kept the Aggies in the hunt in the first half.

Elon’s Kyle Romenick averaged 44.5 yards on six punts, with a long of 61 yards. He put two inside Gardner-Webb’s 20 and had two boots of 50-plus yards.

Gardner-Webb kicker Jay Billingsley made field goals of 25 and 32 yards in the first half and went 4-for-4 on PATs.