GREENSBORO, North Carolina – Tarik Cohen has played in college football games for North Carolina A&T 42 separate weeks over the past four seasons. In 15 of those weeks, or roughly a third of the time he has been playing college football, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference has awarded him with a superlative.
This week is no different. For the fifth straight week, Cohen earned MEAC Offensive Player of the Week honors as he led the Aggies to a 42-17 win over Florida A&M, Saturday, Oct. 29. N.C. A&T had one other player earn honors for the Florida A&M performance as redshirt junior left tackle Brandon Parker picked up offensive lineman of the week accolades for the fourth time this season.
In each of the four previous weeks Cohen won offensive player of the week, he went for 256 yards and three touchdowns against Hampton (Sept. 29), he ran for 200 yards against Norfolk State and in the process broke the MEAC rushing record (Oct. 6), he became the first player in school history to run for 200 yards in three consecutive games by compiling 220 yards and three touchdowns against Bethune-Cookman (Oct. 15) and against Howard Cohen went for 133 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.
He added a 45-yard touchdown reception to his day, his third career receiving TD. Cohen’s day against Howard helped him exceed 5,000 career rushing yards. There were only 25 players who had 5,000 career rushing yards coming into the 2016 season. Cohen also secured his fourth straight 1,000-yard season, becoming only the 10th player in FCS and second player in the MEAC, to ever accomplish the feat.
Against the Rattlers Cohen recorded the eighth three-touchdown day of his career and also ran for 145 yards on 17 carries including an 83-yard run. It was the 11th touchdown of his career than has gone for 70 yards or more.
Parker is the third different Aggie offensive lineman to earn offensive lineman of the week this season, joining center Darriel Mack (10/10) and right tackle Wes Cole (10/24). Parker captured the honor after wins over St. Augustine’s (9/5), Kent State (9/12), Bethune-Cookman (10/17) and Florida A&M (10/31).
Parker’s protection has helped the Aggies rank first in scoring offense, total offense and rushing offense in the conference. The Aggies also have the No. 1 rusher (Cohen), the most accurate passer (Lamar Raynard) and the player with the top passer efficiency rating (Raynard) in the league. Parker led all Aggie offensive linemen by grading out at 90 percent with five pancake blocks. Parker did not allow a hurry or a sack.
N.C. A&T (7-1, 5-0 MEAC) return to action this week as the face perennial MEAC power S.C. State (3-4, 3-1 MEAC) 1 p.m., Saturday at Aggie Stadium. The Aggies will be celebrating 16 seniors on Senior Day. The Senior Day ceremony starts at 12:30 p.m. Follow Aggies football on Twitter @ncat_football. Follow Aggie Athletics on Facebook (@ncatathletics), Twitter (@ncataggies) and Instagram (@ncatathletics).
NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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