Opta Analyst’s FCS football coverage includes weekly national player and team honors throughout the regular season and will lead toward the annual season-ending Stats Perform FCS National Awards Show on Jan. 3, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Penn’s Jared Richardson, North Dakota’s Malachi McNeal, Drake’s Harry Balke and Sacred Heart’s Mitchell Summers were selected on Monday as the Stats Perform FCS National Players of the Week for Week 7 college football games this past weekend.
In addition, the North Dakota Fighting Hawks were named the Stats Perform FCS National Team of the Week.
The weekly honors lead up to the Stats Perform FCS National Awards Show on Jan. 3 in Nashville, Tennessee. The season-ending awards are in their 39th year.
The five honorees plus honorable mention selections for the FCS National Awards:
FCS National Offensive Player of the Week
Jared Richardson, Penn, WR, Sr., 6-2, 220
Richardson hauled in 15 receptions for 190 yards and two touchdowns as Penn downed Marist 28-9. The catches are two more than in any other FCS game this season. Seven of them went for first downs, including a long of 43 yards, and he had a go-ahead, 21-yard TD in the first quarter and an 11-yard score in the fourth. He became the fifth Quakers player to reach 20 career touchdown receptions.
Honorable Mention: Andrew Body, QB, Alabama State; Landen Chambers, RB, Central Arkansas; Dean DeNobile, QB, Lafayette; Geoffrey Jamiel, WR, Lehigh; James Paige, RB, Tarleton State; Cole Payton, QB, North Dakota State; Tommy Rittenhouse, QB, Illinois State; Mitchell Summers, RB, Sacred Heart; Brian Trobel, RB, Mercyhurst
FCS National Defensive Player of the Week
Malachi McNeal, North Dakota, LB, Sr., 6-1, 230
McNeal collected 10 tackles, including nine solos, as North Dakota defeated Youngstown State 34-17 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. His fourth career game in double figures sparked a defense that limited YSU quarterback Beau Brungard to 71 rushing yards, or 60 below his pre-game average. McNeal’s sack of Brungard in the second quarter helped set up the Fighting Hawks offense for a touchdown. He also had one pass breakup.
Honorable Mention: Cam Chappa, S, Northern Colorado; Rohan Davy, LB, Rhode Island; Jordan Franklin, LB, South Carolina State; Cahari Haynes, LB, Gardner-Webb; Brandon Martin, DE, Dayton; Hasean Sykes, CB, Western Carolina; Zayteak McGhee, S, HCU; Malachi Wright, LB, Central Connecticut
FCS National Special Teams Player of the Week
Harry Balke, Drake, PK, Sr., 6-4, 220
Drake defeated San Diego with a score on the game’s final play for the third straight season, and this time it happened on Balke’s 55-yard field goal to produce a 19-16 win in the Pioneer Football League. It was the longest walk-off field goal in the FCS since 2022. Balke, a San Diego native who was making a homecoming, also kicked a 43-yard field goal to open the fourth quarter, finishing with seven points.
Honorable Mention: Andrew Brown, PK, North Carolina A&T; Ja’Vion Griffin, PR/WR, Richmond; Rodney Hammond, KR/RB, Sacramento State; Will Leyland, PK, South Dakota; Ja’briel Mace, KR, Villanova; T.J. Mitchell III, KR, Eastern Kentucky; JaShawn Todd, RB/RB, St. Thomas; Adam Watford, P, North Alabama
FCS National Freshman Player of the Week
Mitchell Summers, Sacred Heart, RB, Fr., 5-7, 155
Summers carried the ball 18 times for 243 yards and two touchdowns to power Sacred Heart (5-2) past Howard 32-14. He averaged 13.5 yards per carry in the Pioneers’ fourth-highest single-game performance, and it included an 80-yard score on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter. The true freshman has surpassed 100 rushing yards three times this season.
Honorable Mention: Braden Atkinson, QB, Mercer; Camron Barber, DB, Presbyterian; Xai’Shaun Edwards, RB, HCU; Matt Kling, PK, Sacred Heart; Caden Pinnick, QB, UC Davis; Johnny Weber, QB, Southeast Missouri
FCS National Team of the Week
Northern Colorado (49-33 win at Idaho)
After falling just short of upsets at Colorado State and South Dakota last month, the Bears (3-3) never trailed in one of the bigger wins of their Division I era. Idaho entered with a No. 11 ranking, but coach Ed Lamb’s visiting Big Sky squad exploded for 35 first-half points. Eric Gibson completed 22 of 34 passes for 350 yards and touchdowns to Mathias Price and Brayden Munroe, while safety Cam Chappa anchored the defense with 10 tackles and an interception with a 43-yard return.
Honorable Mention: Lafayette (62-24 win over Bucknell); North Dakota State (45-17 win over Southern Illinois); Western Carolina (52-7 win over Furman)
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North Dakota, Richardson, McNeal, Balke, Summers Earn FCS Football Awards (Week 7) Opta Analyst.
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