Zachary Lucy
Football
ST. LOUIS – North Dakota State’s CharMar Brown and Jackson Williams both earned Missouri Valley Football Conference player of the week honors Monday, Sept. 23, for their performances in the 41-24 homecoming victory over Towson.
Brown, a redshirt freshman from Creighton Prep in Omaha, Neb., was named Newcomer of the Week after rushing 24 times for 126 yards and three touchdowns averaging 5.2 yards per carry. In just the fourth game of his career, he posted NDSU’s first 100-yard rushing performance in six games since the second round of the 2023 playoffs and the most carries by a Bison player since March 2021 when Hunter Luepke rushed 28 times for 190 yards and three TDs in a win against North Dakota. Brown had 41 yards on five straight carries in the fourth quarter to lead the Bison on a scoring drive that made it a two-possession game late.
Williams, a freshman from Millard West in Omaha, was named Special Teams Player of the Week after a game-high 169 all-purpose yards. On his first collegiate punt return, he went 67 yards for a touchdown to give the Bison a 17-3 second quarter lead. He also had one fair catch and returned four kickoffs for an average of 21.3 yards with a long of 35 yards in the fourth quarter to spark a Bison scoring drive. Williams leads the MVFC with 224 kick return yards this season and is second in the league averaging 28.0 yards on eight attempts.
North Dakota State opens conference play at Illinois State at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, at Hancock Stadium in Normal, Ill. Both teams are 3-1 overall.