NEW ORLEANS - Georgia Southern quarterback Kyle Vantrease has been named the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week, as announced Monday by the conference. It marks the second honor for the sixth-year transfer this season.

SUN BELT PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Offensive Player of the Week - Kyle Vantrease, Georgia Southern
Kyle Vantrease connected with Derwin Burgess Jr. for a 22-yard touchdown pass down the sideline with 1:10 remaining as Georgia Southern topped No. 25 James Madison 45-38 in Sun Belt football action Saturday evening in Allen E. Paulson Stadium. Vantrease finished the game with a school-record 578 passing yards (third-most in Sun Belt history) and four touchdowns, and the fifth-year senior kept the Eagles' final scoring drive alive with a 14-yard pass to Khaleb Hood on 4th-and-10 from the James Madison 47-yard line. The graduate student connected on 38 of a school-record 64 passes and didn't give up a sack. Vantrease had three receivers with 100 yards in a game for the first time in school history and it was the school-record seventh-straight game with a passing TD for Vantrease. He also set the school's single-season passing TD record with 17.

Defensive Player of the Week - Tre Hawkins, Old Dominion
Tre Hawkins recorded a career-high 10 tackles, a forced fumble, fumble recovery and one pass breakup in Old Dominion's 49-21 win over Coastal Carolina. Hawkins made one of the biggest plays of the day when he forced and recovered a fumble on Coastal's opening drive of the second half. ODU scored to take a 21-7 lead and never looked back.

Special Teams Player of the Week - Kenneth Almendares, Louisiana
Went 3-for-3 at Marshall including a career-long 52-yarder at the end of the third quarter. Gave Louisiana the lead in the first quarter as he hit a 42-yarder before hitting a 33-yarder in the middle of the third quarter.

Georgia Southern (4-3, 1-2) travels to Virginia to take on Old Dominion (3-3, 2-0) Saturday at 3:30 p.m.