RICHMOND, Va. – Senior defensive end Marcus Willoughby of the Elon University football team has been named the CAA Football Defensive Player of the Week by the league office on Monday, Sept. 9.
With a career day in Elon’s home-opening 35-28 victory over The Citadel, Willoughby finished with a career-high 14 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss and a sack to help keep the Bulldogs at bay all afternoon. For the day, Elon’s defense limited The Citadel’s option offense to 156 yards rushing, marking the fewest rushing yards in a game since Nov. 18, 2017, against No. 2 Clemson. In all, Willoughby and the Elon defense allowed just 225 yards of total offense to the Bulldogs, including just 18 in the first quarter.
The award is Willoughby’s second CAA Football weekly honor. He also earned the distinction after Elon defeated New Hampshire in September of last season after a day in which he had 4.5 TFL and two sacks.
Elon will open its CAA Football slate next time out on Saturday, Sept. 14, with a visit to Richmond. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Robins Stadium. Elon has taken each of the last two meetings against the Spiders over the course of the last two seasons, winning 38-28 at Rhodes Stadium in 2018 while beating No. 6 UR on the road 36-33 in 2017.