2019 (R-Senior): Garnered a spot on four postseason All-American teams: HERO Sports All-American Second Team, STATS FCS All-American Second Team, AFCA FCS Coaches’ All-America Second Team and the Phil Steele All-American Fourth Team…Recognized as the Phil Steele Preseason SoCon Defensive Player of the Year and named to Phil Steele FCS Preseason First Team All-SoCon and All-American … Named to the STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award Watch List … Tabbed as the SoCon Preseason Defensive Player of the Year … Named to the Preseason All-SoCon First Team Defense … Garnered a spot on the STATS FCS Preseason First Team All-America … Named to the Athlon Sports’ 2019 Preseason FCS All-American Team … HERO Sports Preseason All-American First Team … Concluded the season on both the Coaches and Media First Team All-SoCon squads … Appeared in 12 games with 11 starts for the Bucs … Concluded the season with 45 tackles, including 24 solo … Led the Bucs with 10 tackles for loss, marking the third consecutive season that he finished with double-digit tackles for loss … Tallied 4.5 sacks for the Bucs, leading the squad in sacks on the season … Recovered his first career fumble in the win over Shorter (Sept. 7) … Registered a season-high seven tackles against Shorter, including 1.5 tackles for loss … Posted five or more tackles in four of the 12 games played … Finished his career with 40 career tackles for loss, ranking fifth-most in ETSU history … Played 43 games in his career with 40 career starts.
2018 (R-Junior): Named to the Phil Steele Magazine All-American Second Team as well as the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) FCS Coaches’ All-America Second Team … Garnered a spot on the STATS FCS All-American Third Team … Tabbed as a First Team All-SoCon Defense in addition to being named a STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award Finalist … Named SoCon Defensive Player of the Week (Oct. 1) and was a preseason First Team All-SoCon honoree … Appeared and started in 11 games on the season … Finished his redshirt-junior campaign with 43 tackles (25 solo) as well as 11 tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hurries, six sacks, three forced fumbles and two pass breakups … Registered a season-high seven tackles vs. Furman (Sept. 22) and The Citadel (Oct. 13) … Won SoCon Defensive Player of the Week due to six tackles (four solo), three sacks and two forced fumbles against Chattanooga (Sept. 29) … Finished second in the SoCon in total forced fumbles (3), fourth in sacks (6.0) and sixth in tackles for loss (11.0).
2017 (R-Sophomore): Named First Team All-SoCon (media) … Started in all 11 games and totaled 67 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, seven sacks, six quarterback hurries, one interception (for touchdown) and one forced fumble … Registered his first double-digit tackle game (10 tackles) in the season-opening win over Limestone, and added a career-high 13 tackles versus Wofford on Oct. 28 … Posted a three-sack performance in the 16-3 Homecoming win over Robert Morris on Oct. 7, and picked off his first collegiate interception a month later over VMI, returning it for a touchdown in the 24-6 victory against the Keydets … Finished tied for second in the SoCon in sacks, third in tackles for loss, and his three-sack game against Robert Morris was tied for the most among conference players … The three sacks were tied for the 11th-most by an FCS player, and were the fourth-most in ETSU single-game history … Player’s seven sacks this year also ranked fourth in Buccaneer single-season history.
2016 (R-Freshman): Named to the Southern Conference All-Freshman Team … Played in nine games, making seven starts … Started his first collegiate game in the Bucs’ double-overtime time at Kennesaw State on Sept. 3 … Totaled 27 tackles (5.5 tackles for loss), one sack, one quarterback hurry and one pass break up … Finished with a season-high eight solo tackles (two TFL) and one sack in his collegiate debut at Kennesaw State … Seven tackles (four solo) at The Citadel on Oct. 29 and six tackles at Mercer on Nov. 5 … Two tackles (0.5 TFL) in the Bucs’ win over Western Carolina at Bristol Motor Speedway.
2015 (Freshman): Redshirted as a true freshman.
High School: Played four years of football at Ridge View High School, and also played one season of Lacrosse … Recorded 88 tackles with 13 for loss as a senior … Also collected nine sacks, forced four fumbles and recovered two fumbles that same season … Finished career with over 100 tackles total.
Personal: Son of Willie and Jessica Player … Born March 29, 1997 … Majoring in sport management … Played for high school coach Raymond Jennings.
