College players of week recognized by TSWA - Oct. 28 — Tennessee Sports Writers Association

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Sports Writers Association has announced the Oct. 28 College Players of the Week on Wednesday morning.

FOOTBALL: Barton Mixon from the University of the South was honored as the TSWA Football Offensive Player of the Week. Carrying the ball 27 times for a career-high 243 yards with two scores against Centre, Mixon averaged 9.0 yards per carry.

In the first quarter, his rushes of 10 and 69 yards on back-to-back plays from scrimmage set up a touchdown, tying the score at 10 points apiece.

The Sewanee tailback had a four-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and a 1-yard score in the fourth.

Going into the week, the sophomore leads the Southern Athletic Association and is in the top 25 in Division III in rushing yards (750) and rushing yards per game (107.1). Additionally, his eight rushing scores are second-most in the league.

Chattanooga’s Zion Rutledge was tapped as the TSWA Defensive Player of the Week following a career-best 17 tackles, including nine solo stops, in its 41-18 victory over Western Carolina to improve to 4-1 in Southern Conference Play and 5-3 overall.

In addition, he added 1.5 tackles for a loss and was a part of a defense that forced two turnovers and held the Catamounts without an offensive touchdown until the fourth quarter, when the game was already decided.

Surpassing 200 career tackles, the senior leads the SoCon in tackles per game (10.0) and solo tackles (4.63).

MEN’S SOCCER: For the second straight week and the sixth time this season, Trevecca Nazarene University’s Chris Douglas was recognized as the TSWA Men’s Soccer Player of the Week after scoring the game-winning goal in the 2-1 victory over West Alabama to help secure the program’s first regular season Gulf South Conference Tournament and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament.

His fifth game-winning strike of the year came in the 52nd minute from a Jack Franklin pass and is fifth in Division II in the category.

Douglas enters the postseason continuing to pace Division II in goals per game (1.23) and points per game (2.85), and extends the program’s NCAA record with 27 goals. Additionally, he moves into second in program history in points (61).

WOMEN’S SOCCER: Olivia Shannon from Carson-Newman was chosen as the TSWA Women’s Soccer Player of the Week in the program’s 3-2 win over then No. 12 Catawba to improve to 7-3-6 overall and 4-2-3 in South Atlantic Conference play.

Securing a brace, her goal in the 89th minute helped give the Eagles their first win over a ranked team on the road since 2004.

She also got the first goal for C-N in the ninth minute.

Shannon continues to pace the Eagles in goals (5) and points (13) entering the final week of the regular season.

VOLLEYBALL: Lipscomb’s Ella Durham was honored as the TSWA Volleyball Player of the Week after averaging 4.88 kills and 5.5 points per set in the Bisons’ weekend sweep over Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson to move into first place in the Atlantic Sun Conference with a 7-2 record and a 14-5 overall clip.

Committing seven attack errors on 101 swings for a .317 attack percentage with 39 kills and 44 points.

After a 17-kill, five-block performance against Florida Gulf Coast, she went off with 22 kills and 24 points in a three-set sweep of Stetson.

She became the third person in LUV history since 2010 to achieve 20 or more kills and the fourth with 20 or more points in three-set matches.

Also against the Hatters, she had a .636 swing percentage with one attack error in 33 attempts.

Durham is second in kills (3.65) and points (3.97) per set in the ASUN with three weeks remaining in the regular season.

2026 TSWA FOOTBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Sept. 1 | Chris Parson, Austin Peay (Offense); Elijah Kinsler, Memphis (Defense)
Sept. 9 | Jaylin Carter, Memphis (Offense); Xavier Gilliam, Tennessee (Defense)
Sept. 15 | Denver Harper, Austin Peay (Offense); CJ Heard, Vanderbilt (Defense)
Sept. 22 | Junior Sherrill, Vanderbilt (Offense); Malik Denkins, Austin Peay (Defense)
Sept. 29 | Jax Leatherwood, Tennessee Tech (Offense); Zion Rutledge, Chattanooga (Defense)
Oct. 6 | DeSean Bishop, Tennessee (Offense); Dejuan Lane, Tennessee (Defense)
Oct. 13 | Josh Adams, Carson-Newman (Offense); Knox Kremblas, Maryville College (Defense)
Oct. 20 | DeSean Bishop, Tennessee (Offense); Jacquese Abner, Maryville College (Defense)
Oct. 28 | Barton Mixon, Sewanee (Offense); Zion Rutledge, Chattanooga (Defense)