NEW ORLEANS – University of South Alabama football's Gus Nave picked up the first honor of his career Monday morning when he was named the Sun Belt Conference Special Teams Player of the Week as announced by the league office.

The 5-foot-11 freshman returned a blocked field goal 83 yards for the Jags' first touchdown in Saturday's 45-0 home win over Alabama A&M, sparking a stretch late in the first quarter in which South scored 21 points in less than three minutes to break open the game. He later added his first career interception and chipped in a career-high-tying three tackles on defense to help USA record its first shutout since Oct. 16, 2010, and the program's largest margin of victory ever against an NCAA Division I opponent while giving up just 172 total yards.

South will now open up conference play this weekend when it welcomes Idaho to Ladd-Peebles Stadium with kickoff versus the Vandals set for 1 p.m.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Jaguar Athletic Fund (JAF) Priority Fund, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics.  Contributions to the Priority Fund directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/sports/2013/3/13/Gridiron%20Club.aspx?id=22

—USA—