Jacob Giles Selected as NAIA National Offensive Player of the Week

Jacob Giles, a Madison native and a quarterback for the DSU Trojans Football team, has recently been chosen as the NAIA National Offensive Player of the Week. This honor was given to Giles because of his game performance during the week of September 5-11. In addition to this, Jacob also holds the DSU record for most passes that resulted in touchdowns in one game.

Recently, the Trojan Times had the chance to ‘virtually’ sit down with Giles, and ask him a few personal questions about the honor. (Good ole email.)

Times: “What went through your head when you learned the news?  How did you learn?”

Giles: “I learned this news right before practice on Monday from Coach Anderson. It was a huge honor to receive this award, and I was very happy to receive it. However, it wasn’t that big of a deal to me. The biggest thing to come out of this week was that we won, and that we received national votes for the first time since I have been on the team.”

Times: “Do you think this will affect how future opponents will prepare for playing against the Trojans?  How has Coach Anderson and the rest of his staff reacted?”

Giles: “In football teams, we are always making adjustments, so I’m sure our upcoming opponents will make some adjustments as wel. Since we have had so much success throwing the ball, they may choose to try to stop that. The coaches are prepared for that, and they have prepared the team for that. If that does happen, then we have some really good running backs and an amazing offensive line that can help us win a game by running the ball.”

Times: “You may well be the only English Major ever to earn this honor.  How does your love of literature and media intersect with your giftedness as a quarterback?”

Giles: “Being a quarterback and an English Major may be very different, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t similarities. The biggest similarity for me actually has to deal with being an English Education major. As a quarterback I know almost every other position on the offense, so when people have questions, there are a lot of times they ask me. It is my job to then explain this information in a way that they understand it. Sometimes it goes deeper than just a simple question, and I have to help teach the entire offense to a new player. When this happens I use the skills as a teacher that I learned in class. A lot of the times I feel I am able to teach someone the offense just because I am also able to teach someone a novel.”

Upon reading the above comments from Giles, one can tell he has a passion for helping others and credits coaches and team members with helping him during games. On behalf of all of us at the Trojan Times and at DSU, congratulations on this honor, Jacob!