Gillman honored by Stats Perform, Big Sky
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MISSOULA — Eli Gillman had his greatest day on Saturday, and on Monday he got his flowers.
Gillman, who rushed for a Montana-record 275 yards in the No. 4/5 Grizzlies’s 62-22 dismantling of No. 9/10 UC Davis, is both the Stats Perform FCS National Offensive Player of the Week and the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week.
Gillman’s 275 yards broke Montana's 25-year-old single-game rushing record of 265 set by Yohance Humphrey against Weber State in 2001. Those 275 yards are the most in a single game in the Big Sky, the FCS, and all of D-I football so far this season.
His four rushing touchdowns brought his career total to 60, moving him past Sacramento State's Charles Roberts to take over the league record. Gillman has now scored 396 career points, passing Griz kickers Brody McKnight and Chris Snyder for third place on the Big Sky's all-time scoring list.
Another Griz kicker, Dan Carpenter (413), and Eastern Washington's Cooper Kupp (464) are the only players in front of him. Kupp’s Big Sky record of 77 total touchdowns is also in danger; Gillman has 66 career TDs, including six receiving.
It’s the second national honor from Stats Perform for Gillman, whose 4,361 career rushing yards rank first in UM history and No. 8 in the Big Sky annals. He landed a Freshman of the Week Award in 2003, the season he won the Jerry Rice Award for top freshman in the FCS.
It’s also his second Big Sky weekly honor in three weeks and fourth of his career.
Gillman and the Grizzlies piled up 607 yards of offense against the Aggies, breaking 600 in a game for the 23rd time.
Big Sky had another play honored by Stats Perform: Portland State kicker Joshua Hossmann Lees, who hit a 42-yard field goal as time expired in the Vikings’ 44-41 win at Weber State, won Special Teams Player of the Week.
Hossman Lees, who hit three field goals and five PAT kicks in the win, also landed the Big Sky special teams honor.
The league’s Defensive Player of the Week is Idaho State linebacker Jackson Irwin, who had nine tackles (three for losses), a sack, an interception and a pass breakup in the unbeaten Bengals’ 28-24 win over Southern Utah.
The Griz return to Missoula this week for Homecoming, set to take on Northern Colorado at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
The game caps a week of Homecoming activity at UM, highlighted by the annual Yell Night Pep Rally in the Oval on Friday evening and the Homecoming Parade through downtown Missoula on Saturday morning before the game.
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