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Bridgewater, NJ — Less than 48 hours after he delivered one of the NEC's most explosive offensive outings in recent history, Duquesne redshirt senior running back Taj Butts (St. Louis, MO/De Smet (Missouri)) was pegged the Stats Perform FCS National Offensive Player of the Week.

The Dukes' veteran becomes the second player from the conference to receive national recognition from the organization as he joins Wagner freshman kicker Nicholas Romero (Pembroke Pines, FL/St. Thomas Aquinas), who garnered Stats Perform FCS National Freshman Player of the Week distinction two weeks ago on Nov. 3.

Butts powered the Dukes' offense to a pivotal 38-33 win in a back-and-forth slugfest against Central Connecticut, which entered Saturay's contest with a perfect 5-0 mark against NEC foes. With the win, Duquesne remains in the race to win a share of the NEC regular season title and claim the league's AQ to the NCAA FCS Playoffs.

A native of St. Louis, Butts racked up a career-high 254 rushing yards — the seventh most by an FCS running back this year — and added three rushing touchdowns on just 14 carries for an exceptional 18.1 yard-per-rush average. He found the end zone on runs of 29, 57 and 59 yards to become the first Duke to eclipse the 250-rushing yard mark since 2003 and the first player in the conference this year to register multiple 50-yard runs in the same game this season. In addition, Butts compiled the most rushing yards by an NEC player since Central Connecticut's Elijah Howard ran for 257 vs. Delaware State on Dec. 7, 2023.

Butts' 59-yard run with 3:19 left to play ultimately sealed the win just two plays after the Blue Devils took a lead. On the season, he has four rushing scores and 546 rushing yards.