NCAA Week 5: College Players of the Week

Five weeks into the college football season and some NFL prospects are truly separating themselves from the pack with week-to-week impressive performances. Week five had a handful of big performances on both sides of the ball, but a prolific day catching the ball from Andy Isabella and a dominating pass rushing performance from Jerry Tillery have earned them play of the week honors.

UMass is rarely going to be on people’s radars, especially after a loss that brings the team to 2-4 on the season. However, in a shoot 58-42 shootout with Ohio University, Andy Isabella did everything he could to propel his team to a win. The 5’10”, 190-pound senior caught 12 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns. Isabella spent the whole day open and did a great job of picking up yards after the catch. The speedster is up to 41 catches for 648 yards and seven touchdowns on the season, on his way to surpassing all his previous career highs. It is likely that Isabella gets overlooked during draft season due to his school and size, but he is doing everything in his power to keep people on notice that he is coming for the NFL.

In one of the weekend’s higher profile matchups, Jerry Tillery was a one-man wrecking crew for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in their blowout win against Stanford. The 6’7”, 300-pound senior defensive lineman had four (!!!) sacks and a forced fumble against the Cardinal. Tillery was a bulwark against the prolific Stanford offense by completely destroying their ability to get anything going due to constant interior pressure and havoc. Tillery has had an incredibly prolific season to this point, piling up seven sacks in only five games. In a class chocked full of incredible defensive lineman, Tillery is throwing his name in the ring as one of the most disruptive in the class.