Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Harris and Thuston receive weekly MVFC honors
10/03/2010 | 12:00:00 | Football
Oct. 3, 2010
By Jason Clay
SIUSalukis.com
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Missouri Valley Football Conference announced Sunday that Southern Illinois redshirt freshman Luke Thuston has been named the Special Teams player of the Week and junior running back Shariff Harris is the league's Newcomer of the Week.
This is the first player of the week awards for both players, as they helped SIU snap a three-game losing streak with a 38-17 win at Illinois State on Saturday.
Thuston blocked his second punt in as many games, only this time he returned it eight yards for a touchdown. Last week at Youngstown State, Thuston's blocked punt led to a 38-yard Taylon Hunter return for a touchdown. The Wildwood, Mo.-native also had 1.5 tackles for a loss and one fumble recovery in the game where he made his first career start at strong safety.
Illinois State came into the game with the league's top passing offense, but Thuston and the Saluki secondary held them to 115 yards under its average.
One of Thuston's biggest plays on the day came at a crucial time with 25 seconds before the half. SIU was up 17-7, but the Redbirds had the ball on the Saluki two-yard line. Thuston blitzed ISU quarterback Matt Brown and he got to him, forcing Brown to thrown an errant pass that Stephen Franklin intercepted, allowing Salukis to escape with their 10-point lead at the half.
Thuston also had three tackles, one pass breakup and one quarterback hurry against Illinois State.
Harris rushed 37 times for 163 yards and two touchdowns against the Redbirds. This was Harris' first career 100-yard rushing game and he helped SIU rack up 342 yards on the ground as a team.
His 37 carries tied for the 10th most in a game in school history and is the third most by a player in the nation this year. Despite his large workload, Harris got better as the game went along.
109 of his 163 yards came in the second half and he rushed 13 times for 78 yards in the fourth quarter alone. His two touchdowns came in the final 12 minutes of the game to help SIU pull away from the Redbirds, who trailed by just seven entering the fourth quarter. He averaged 4.4 yards per rush on the day.
