James Named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week
September 27, 2004 | Football
For the second consecutive week, University of Wisconsin senior defensive end Erasmus James has been named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. It is the third such honor for James in his career.
James, a native of Pembroke Pines, Fla., becomes the first Badger to earn back-to-back Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors after racking up five tackles, including four solo stops, two sacks and a fumble recovery in a 16-3 win over Penn State Saturday.
He leads the Big Ten with five sacks and eight tackles for loss, and is only the second Badger defender in school history to collect multiple Conference weekly laurels in one season as defensive end Tom Burke was honored three times in 1998.
The Wisconsin defense has now held each of its first four opponents to a touchdown or less for the first time since the 1951 campaign. The Badgers limited the PSU offense to 157 yards after entering the game averaging 465.3 yards per contest.
In addition to last week's honor, James was also named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week following his collegiate debut on August 27, 2001.
