Boston College DE Wins East-West Shrine Bowl's Defensive Breakout Player of the Week
Boston College football defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku has won the East-West Shrine Bowl’s Defensive Breakout Player of the Week.
The senior earned the weekly honor for his performance in the Eagles 21-20 win over the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers over the weekend.
In the game, Ezeiruaku recorded a career-best game as he tallied 14 total tackles (10 solo and four assisted), four tackles for loss for 19 yards, three sacks for 15 yards, two quarterback hits, and a forced fumble. His total tackles, sacks, and tackles for loss were a career-high for him.
Currently, the Williamstown, N.J., native leads college football in sacks (8.0) and sacks per game (1.6) as well as ranked third in tackles for loss (9.5) and seventh in tackles for loss per game (1.9).
After the game, Ezeiruaku spoke about his performance in the contest specifically in the second half.
“Yeah, I felt like we kind of started off very slow,” said Ezeiruaku on Saturday. “We didn’t really pick it up until the second half and I kind of took that personally. I know at the beginning of the game, I started off slow personally, didn’t feel like I was doing what I needed to do, so kind of just doing a little self talk, I need to be a leader for this team, and I need to do that through not just words but through actions. So, that was my mindset going into the second half.”
Through the first five games of the season, Ezeiruaku has tallied 33 total tackles (19 solo and 14 assisted), 9.5 tackles for loss for 58 yards, eight sacks for 54 yards, five quarterback hits, and a forced fumble.
He leads the team in total tackles, sacks, tackles for loss, and quarterback hits and has recorded the second-most solo tackles and assisted tackles. He is also one of three players on the Eagles defense to force a fumble this year.
