Sept. 20, 2010
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By Leigh Torbin
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - UCF junior defensive end Darius Nall (Douglasville, Ga.) was honored by Conference USA today with its Defensive Player of the Week accolade for his performance in UCF's 24-10 win at Buffalo on Saturday night.
Nall made a career-high and team-leading nine tackles against the Bulls, including three tackles for loss and a pair of sacks. Nall broke up a pass and was credited with a forced hurry, creating an errant pass that preseason All-American Bruce Miller intercepted and returned 30 yards for a touchdown.
It made Nall just the sixth lineman at UCF under George O'Leary's watch to lead the team in tackles for a game. Coupled with a strong performance on Sept. 11 against NC State in particular, Nall is one of just four Knights since 2003 who have had at least 10 tackles, one sack, one break-up and one hurry through the first three games, joining Paul Carrington in 2005, Bruce Miller in 2007 and Lawrence Young in 2008.
Thus far in 2010, Nall boasts 15 tackles, third on the team, including a team-high four TFLs, a team-high three sacks, four quarterback hurries and a pair of pass breakups.
Nall was also honored by C-USA in 2007 with a spot on the league's All-Freshman team. The last Knight to earn C-USA Defensive Player of the Week honors was Miller who picked up the prize on both Nov. 1 and Nov. 30, 2009, meaning that a UCF defensive lineman has been named C-USA's Defensive Player of the Week three times in the last eight game weeks. Not surprisingly, the Knights presently lead C-USA and rank in the national Top 20 in four out of the five major defensive categories (total defense, scoring defense, passing defense and passing efficiency defense).
Nall and the Knights will return to the field on Saturday when UCF travels to face Kansas State in Manhattan, Kan. The game will air nationally on FOX Sports Net and kickoff at 12:30 p.m. ET.