AJ Pena’s inspired effort earns him CAA Defensive Player of the Week

For the second time this season, a Rhode Island football player earned a spot on CAA Football’s weekly honor roll as linebacker AJ Pena was named Defensive Player of the Week Monday morning.

Quarterback Devin Farrell had already accomplished that feat by winning the league’s weekly offensive award after the win against Holy Cross (August 31).

Pena was a key part of the defense that led URI to a 21-9 victory over Campbell on Saturday night at Meade Stadium. He had eight tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery that set up the first touchdown of the conference opener.

In the first quarter, the junior recovered a Chad Mascoe fumble at the Campbell 31, setting up a short field for the Rhody offense, which scored on him four plays later. Four of Pena’s eight tackles resulted in no gain or loss and both of his sacks came in the fourth quarter, thwarting any comeback attempts by the Camels. He inflated his individual statistics with that performance, surpassing 100 career tackles (101) while passing John Klumbach (16; 1988-91) for eighth place all-time on URI’s career sack list (17.5).

Rhode Island held its visitors to 8 of 18 on third downs and 0 of 3 on third downs.

The Rams’ season continues on Saturday, September 21 with a non-conference game at LIU. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. in Brookville, N.Y.

CAA Football Weekly Awards
Co-Offensive Player of the Week: Josh Derry, So., WR, Monmouth (Towson, Md./Concordia Prep)
Co-Offensive Player of the Week: Seth Morgan, Sr., QB, New Hampshire (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon)
Defensive Player of the Week: AJ Pena, Jr., LB, Rhode Island (Montclair, NJ/Somerville)
Special Teams Player of the Week: Trevin Ewing, Jr., WR, Maine (Elkton, Md./Elkton)
Rookie of the Week: Isaiah Ragland, Fr., RB, Villanova (Alexandria, Va./Centreville, Va.)