John Robertson may look like he is still in high school, but for the last three weeks he has been a force in college. Once again, Robertson was named the best offensive rookie in the CAA football conference after leading the Wildcats to their first away-game victory of the season and demonstrating that he isn't a one-trick pony.
"We are very happy with our team play overall," coach Andy Talley said. "John Robertson was the key to our success Saturday and continues to impress."
Robertson's selection this week -- his third straight -- was almost a certainty after he turned in his best passing performance of the season. Taking advantage of a Penn defense that was putting 9 defenders in the box early in the game, Robertson found his receivers downfield and accumulated 152 passing yards in the first half alone -- 113 of them to junior wideout Joe Price -- and finished the game with a career-high 213 passing yards.
Robertson also ran for 55 more yards, including a 26-yard score, when he took advantage of a big seam down the middle of the field to scramble his way into the endzone.
The full list of CAA Week 3 honorees follows:
"We basically told him, ‘go to one, go to two and then run,'" Talley said of their gameplan for Robertson. "Sometimes he goes to one and runs, but you see when he runs it's a good thing.
"John's the third back in the backfield."
Robertson has won all three games he has started for the Wildcats and is now cemented as the starter on the Main Line.
Offensive Player of the Week: Taylor Heinicke, QB, Old Dominion
Heinicke set a slue of records in Old Dominion's thrilling 64-61 win over New Hampshire, completing 55-of-79 passes for 730 yards and five touchdowns to go with 65 rushing yards and a score on the ground. With Saturday's performance, the Monarch sophomore now owns Division I records with 791 yards of total offense and 730 yards passing while coming up just six yards shy of breaking college football's single-game passing mark. Heinicke also established new school records with 79 pass attempts, 55 completions, 730 passing yards and 791 total offensive yards.Defensive Player of the Week: Paul Worrilow, LB, Delaware
Worrilow turned in nine tackles, including two for a loss of 11 yards, to lead a solid defensive effort for Delaware on the road at William and Mary. The Hens senior also had a sack (nine yards) and forced a fumble that represented one of the team's five forced turnovers in Saturday's win.Rookie of the Week: John Robertson, QB, Villanova
Robertson earns his third-straight weekly honor after a strong day both in the air and on the ground as Villanova rolled to its 12th-straight victory over cross-town rival Penn. The Wildcats' rookie was an efficient 13-of-20 passing for 213 yards and a touchdown while also running in for a 26-yard score as part of his 55 rushing yards. Robertson's effort represented his first career 200-yard passing game and moved him to 3-0 as Villanova's starting quarterback.Special Teams Player of the Week: Derrick Joseph, WR, Towson
Joseph returned a pair of kicks for 148 yards that included a game-tying 99-yard kickoff return that marked the second-longest kickoff return for a touchdown in school history. With his score, the sophomore became just the third player in school history to return more than one kickoff for a touchdown in his career. Joseph's second return was good for 49 yards and would set up another score in the second quarter.
In addition, Villanova sophomore linebacker Dillon Lucas leads the CAA football conference in tackles-for-loss with 6.5. Lucas was named Defensive Rookie of the Year for the CAA last season. The 'Cats also have the second and third spots locked up, with Rakim Cox (5.5 TFL) and Antoine Lewis (5.0 TFL) also at the top of the conference's list. Cox leads the conference in sacks with 4 solo take-downs.