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Cullowhee, N.C. – Coming off one of the nation’s top weekly individual offensive performances, Western Carolina redshirt sophomore quarterback Taron Dickens was today named the Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Week for games played Sept. 13-20. Dickens guided the Catamounts to 733 yards of total offense in the 50-35 win over Samford on Saturday, amassing 624 yards of total offense alone, including
 
Dickens was named the NCAA FCS Offensive Player of the Week by The College Football Network through its social media channels. He was listed as an honorable mention for the Stats Perform FCS National Offensive Player of the Week plaudits, which went to Southern Illinois QB DJ Williams, who accounted for 493 yards and six touchdowns in a rivalry-game win over Southeast Missouri (SEMO). Williams threw for 342 yards and four scores, while rushing for 151 yards, including a career-long 75-yard scoring run on the game’s first play.
 
Making his 2025 season debut, Dickens threw for a career-best 582 yards passing, the second-most in program history and tied for the second-most in SoCon history, both behind Cole Gonzales, who threw for 620 yards at Furman last season. The 582 passing yards by Dickens are the most by a quarterback in the NCAA FCS this season, eclipsing the previous high of 492 by Derek Robertson of Monmouth vs. Colgate (8/29/2025).  Dickens finished 35-of-46 (76.1%), one completion shy of matching his career-best, tying a school record with six touchdown passes to match former QBs Carlos Davis (at Charleston Southern, 2022) and Troy Mitchell (vs. VMI, 2014). He spread the football to 10 different receivers, posting the E.J. Whitmire Stadium record
 
Adding in his 42 rushing yards, Dickens amassed a program record 624 yards of total offense, eclipsing Cole Gonzales’ mark of 610 (620 passing, -10 rushing) at Furman last season. The 624 yards of total offense ranks second in the SoCon single-game record books and easily set a Whitmire Stadium record, eclipsing the previous benchmark of 510 set by Tyrie Adams in Cullowhee (vs. Gardner-Webb, 2016). It also represents the most by an individual in the NCAA FCS Football this season, just ahead of Samford’s Quincy Crittendon, who had 509 on Saturday.
 
In his last two games played – the regular-season finale at Samford last November and Saturday’s meeting with the Bulldogs – Dickens has amassed 1,006 yards of total offense, including 990 yards passing, with 408 yards last year in Birmingham and 582 Saturday in Cullowhee.
 
WCU’s 733 yards of offense rank as the third-largest in program history, and included 582 passing yards, the second-most only to last year’s win at Furman (801 yards). Following Saturday’s offensive outburst, Western Carolina jumped from No. 34 in passing offense (227.7 yds/gm) to No. 3 in the nation at 316.3 yards per game. The Catamounts also moved from No. 35 nationally in total offense (372.3 yds/gm) before the game to No. 9 at 462.5 yards per game after the win.
 
Western Carolina remained out of the national rankings and receiving votes categories in both the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 and the AFCA Coaches Poll, released on Monday.
 
Western Carolina (1-3, 1-0 SoCon) steps out of conference one final time in the regular season on Saturday, Sept. 27, traveling to Buies Creek, N.C., for the first time in the football program’s history for a meeting with the Campbell Camels, who also earned their first seasonal win on Saturday with a double-overtime victory over Bryant. Kickoff of Campbell’s third-straight home game at Barker-Lane Stadium is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
 
Fifth-year head coach Kerwin Bell will be live on location at Catamount Jaxe in Cullowhee on Monday (Sept. 22) for “Catamount Football Weekly,” presented by Stanberry Insurance. The weekly coaches show airs at 6 p.m. on the Catamount Athletics YouTube Channel and official Facebook page.
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount football and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (FB.com/CatamountSports; FB.com/catamountsportsnetwork) and Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountsFB).