November 20, 2016
Byrd, Madonia take OVC weekly honors
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – With the final week of the Ohio Valley Conference football season, Tennessee Tech came away with three weekly honors as Dontez Byrd was named both the OVC offensive player of the week and the co-newcomer of the week, while Nick Madonia was named the co-specialist of the week for the second week in a row.
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – With the final week of the Ohio Valley Conference football season, Tennessee Tech came away with three weekly honors as Dontez Byrd was named both the OVC offensive player of the week and the co-newcomer of the week, while Nick Madonia was named the co-specialist of the week for the second week in a row.
Byrd, a junior transfer from Louisville, caught 14 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns as the Golden Eagles beat Murray State 55-19 on Saturday in the season finale, helping Tech take sole possession of third place in the league standings, the Golden Eagles' highest finish since 2011.
The tallies put Byrd at 74 catches for 933 yards – both Tech single-season records.
He had a 43-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter, then a 29-yarder in the second.
Byrd finished the 2016 season as the top receiver in the conference with 6.7 catches and 147.82 all-purpose yards, 10th and 11th in the nation respectively.
Byrd was also named the offensive player of the week in the conference by College Sports Madness.
Madonia, meanwhile, collected 13 points in the victory over the Racers, with two field goals and seven point-after tries. He connected from 37 and 46 yards in the first quarter for Tech's first six points of the contest.
Madonia finishes 2016 13th in the nation in field goal percentage (13-of-16, 81.2 percent) and 21st in field goals made per game (1.18). He tied with Tennessee State's Lane Clark for the longest field goal in the conference this season at 57 yards, a mark that stands as the second longest nationally.
