University of Massachusets Athletics
Baylark, Nelson Pick Up A-10 Weekly Honors
October 08, 2006 | Football
Oct. 8, 2006
AMHERST, Mass. - UMass picked up a pair of this week's Atlantic 10 honors on Sunday. Senior tailback Steve Baylark was named the A-10 Offensive Player of the Week while redshirt freshman Tony Nelson was named the A-10 Co-Rookie of the Week. Baylark picked up 187 yards and scored two touchdowns in the huge 48-7 win over William & Mary. Nelson scored three touchdowns as he gained 69 yards for the No. 10 Minutemen.
Baylark, the senior captain from Apopka, Fla., rushed for 187 yards and two touchdowns as No. 10 UMass rolled over William & Mary. Baylark piled up 130 yards in the first half on the way to his 18th career 100-yard game. UMass is 15-3 in those games. He also moved to third in career rushing yards at UMass. Baylark passed Garry Pearson (3,859) with his career-long 50-yard rush in the second quarter. Baylark ended the game with 3,927 yards. That 50-yard run was his longest in his career (of 865 career carries), surpassing his previous high of 49 at Northeastern 0n Nov. 6, 2004. He scored his 32nd and 33rd career rushing touchdowns his 36th and 37th career overall touchdowns with 23-yard and 6-yard touchdown runs in the first quarter. He has scored at least one touchdown in 10 of the last 11 games. Over those 11 games, he has a total of 17 touchdowns (13 rushing and four receiving).
Nelson, the rookie from Germantown, Md., rushed for three touchdowns and 69 yards on 13 carries in UMass' win over William & Mary. He had the first three career touchdowns on 4- and 5- yard rushes in the second quarter and a 2-yard score in the fourth quarter. He is the first UMass freshman to rush for three of more TDs in a game since R.J. Cobbs had a school-record tying five at Rhode Island in 2002.
UMass, which has won each of its last two games by scores of 48-7, takes on No. 17 Towson next Saturday at 3 p.m. The last time UMass scored at least 48 points in back-to-back games came in 1969.
