Pair of Tigers earn recognition from the SEC

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

After flattening Top-10 Florida at Faurot Field, a pair of Tiger football standouts are earning recognition from the Southeastern Conference.

On Monday, the league announced that both quarterback Austin Simmons and linebacker Nicholas Rodriguez have each earned "player of the week" honors, following that victory of the then-No. 8 Gators.

Simmons was tabbed as the SEC Offensive Player of the Week, after a phenomenal afternoon against Florida. He completed 78 percent of his passes for 340 yards and a pair of touchdowns. That's the most passing yards a quarterback has tallied against the Gators since former No. 1 overall draft pick Cam Ward.

After Saturday's game, head coach Eli Drinkwitz said that the thing that's made Simmons so effecitve is his confidence.

"I mean, he's playing extremely confident, knows where to put the ball, has great confidence in his wide receivers," Drinkwitz said. "The connection that he has with Donovan [Olugbode] and, and Cayden [Lee] is really unbelievable. There was only one ball put in jeopardy all game and that was the seam throw to [Brett] Norfleet. You know, he's just playing with a lot of confidence. His team gravitates towards him. Anytime you have a quarterback that's playing that well, there's just a ton of confidence that when the ball is in his hands, something good's gonna happen."

Rodriguez earned the Defensive Player of the Week honor, after his fourth-straight double-digit tackling performance on Saturday. He ended the game with a total of 11.0 tackles, as well as a career-best 1.5 tackles for loss.

The linebacker played a key role in a game where "Death Row Defense" limited the highly-touted Gator rushing attack to just 42 yards on the ground.

Up next - Simmons, Rodriguez and the Tigers will conclude their two-game homestand with a meeting with Texas A&M on Saturday. Kickoff is slated for 11 a.m. on ABC 17.