Rainey, Spann earn SoCon awards

SPARTANBURG, SC (The Citadel Athletics) - After playing key roles in The Citadel’s victory over Samford, Brandon Rainey was named the Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Week and Aron Spann, III was selected as the SoCon Defensive Player of the Week. The announcement was made by the league office Monday.

Rainey takes home his first honor of his career after he rushed for 207 of his 217 yards after halftime. He also went 5-of-7 for 88 yards and a touchdown. The 217 yards are the most ever by a Bulldog quarterback and his 405 yards over two games is most by a signal caller over a two-game stretch.

After a slow start to the first half, Rainey led the Bulldogs down the field for their first touchdown, tossing a 12-yard pass to Curt Nixon. The play was the first touchdown pass in Rainey’s career.

The second half was a different story as Rainey engineered five scoring drives with the bulk of the attack coming on the ground. Rainey did the heavy lifting over the final 30 minutes as he carried 21 times for 207 yards in that span.

The big play came early in the fourth quarter when Rainey broke a tackle and spun his way to a 60-yard touchdown to give The Citadel its first lead of the game. He would also have runs of 43 and 20 yards in the second half as the Bulldogs put up 285 yards on the ground in the half.

Spann takes home his first honor of the season after he posted eight tackles, six solo, and forced a fumble against Samford.

He led a defensive unit that held Samford to just three points in the second half. The Citadel defense limited SU to just 30 yards on the ground and 202 yards overall in the second half.

During the fourth quarter, the defense stopped Samford on three fourth-down attempts to secure the victory.