JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The United Athletic Conference (UAC) has announced its weekly football awards for the week of Nov. 9 with Austin Peay, North Alabama and Tarleton State taking honors.
Austin Peay’s Chris Parson had an outstanding performance this week with 194 yards through the air and 137 yards on the ground and three total touchdowns in the Govs’ 55-31 win over EKU. The junior signal-caller became the first APSU player with 5,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing and the first quarterback in program history with back-to-back seasons of 10 or more rushing touchdowns.
Tylan Hines exploded back onto the scene with 145 yards on the ground with three scores in Tarleton State’s 40-27 win over No. 23 Abilene Christian. The fifth-year running back had 14 carries averaging 10.4 yards per carry and notched a 75-yard touchdown run on the first play of the game to put the Texans up early.
Govs’ defensive lineman David Portu tied the Austin Peay single-game sack record with four quarterback takedowns in the team’s win over EKU. The senior finished the day with six tackles, a quarterback hurry and a pass break-up. In just seven games this season, Portu has totaled 8.0 sacks.
Kaden Williams took the opening kickoff back for a Govs’ program-record 100 yards and put Austin Peay on the board. Williams became the first Gov since 2007 to return an opening kickoff touchdown. Williams went on to finish the game with 190 all-purpose yards, 138 coming on kick returns.
North Alabama’s Xavier Johnson picks up his sixth Freshman of the Week honor after he caught five passes for 62 yards and notched the Lions final touchdown of the game in their 28-21 win over West Florida. The Fort Worth, Texas native moved up to fourth on UNA’s all-time single season receiving yards list.
General media inquiries should be directed to:
Claire Johnson, Senior Director, Strategic Communications & Content
Unisun Sports / claire.johnson@unisunsports.com
About the United Athletic Conference
The United Athletic Conference (UAC) was established in 2023 as a single-sport football conference through a partnership between the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) and the former Western Athletic Conference. In July 2026, the ASUN and UAC formed Unisun Sports to further strengthen the conference, which now features eight football-playing member institutions: Abilene Christian University (Abilene, Texas), Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, Tenn.), the University of Central Arkansas (Conway, Ark.), Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond, Ky.), the University of North Alabama (Florence, Ala.), Tarleton State University (Stephenville, Texas), the University of West Georgia (Carrollton, Ga.) and the University of West Florida (Pensacola, Fla.).