Football | 10/5/2015 2:16:00 PM
Moon Township, Pa. – Junior kicker
Connor Shennan and redshirt senior linebacker
Mike Stojkovic of the
Robert Morris University football team were both recognized with weekly honors by the Northeast Conference (NEC) as announced by the league Monday.
Shennan was named Special Teams Player of the Week while Stojkovic was chosen as the league's Defensive Player of the Week after the Colonials won their conference opener at Wagner this past weekend.
RMU has claimed a league-leading seven weekly honors in 2015, and it is also the only school to have had a student-athlete recognized in each release of the season.
Shennan earns his second accolade in as many weeks, and third of his career, with this announcement. Stojkovic is also being honored for the second time this season as he previously took home an award Sept. 14.
Shennan shined on a windy day that could have been a nightmare for the kicking game. The junior was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals, two of which were from 30+ yards. He accounted for all of RMU's points in its NEC-opening, 9-6, win. With the pressure on, Shennan broke a tie in the final 30 seconds as his field goal proved to be the game-winner. The three field goals represented a new career high and made him the fifth Colonial in program history to hit a trio of field goals in a game. He is the only NEC student-athlete to connect on more than two field goals in a contest in 2015. Shennan also knocked two of his four kickoffs for touchbacks and helped ensure that Wagner did not start a drive after a kickoff beyond its own 25-yard line. Shennan has drilled a league-best 11 of his 21 kickoffs for touchbacks this season. He is a main reason for the Colonials topping the league in kickoff coverage (43.6) thus far in 2015.
Shennan's award makes this the third consecutive week in which RMU has claimed the Special Teams honor, marking the second time in program history in which a Colonial has won this award in three straight weeks.
Stojkovic was the leader of the NEC's best defensive effort in Week 5 as RMU held Wagner to six points. The redshirt senior led a team performance that held Seahawks to 170 yards of total offense, more than 100 fewer than their previous season low that came against a FBS program. Robert Morris, which did not allow a scoring drive longer than 35 yards, held Wagner below a 50% completion mark and also limited the Seahawks to a 1-for-14 figure on third down. Stojkovic posted a game-high 11 tackles, reaching double digits in that category for the fourth time in five games. All 11 of his stops prevented Wagner from gaining a first down on the play. His biggest hit might have been his last as he dropped the running back 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage with a solo stop. The tackle set Wagner back with regard to down and distance, forcing a punt, and RMU would go on to score the game-winning points on its next drive. Stojkovic leads the league in tackles per game (9.6).
Stojkovic's honor is the fourth in five weeks for a Colonial defender. This is only the third season in school history in which RMU has won at least four weekly defensive accolades in a season.
With these two awards, Robert Morris has matched its weekly honors total from the 2014 season.
Shennan is one of eight distinct Colonials to be honored in the NEC's special teams category. Those eight honorees have combined for 15 special teams awards.
Stojkovic is one of 25 distinct Colonials to be honored in the NEC's defensive category. Those 25 honorees have combined for 43 total defensive awards.
Robert Morris will return home this Saturday, Oct. 10, as it continues NEC play against defending co-champion Sacred Heart.
