DeKALB, Ill. – Northern Illinois University junior defensive end Raishein Thomas (Racine, Wis./Washington Park HS) collected the final Mid-American Conference West Division Defensive Player of the Week honor of the season Monday following his performance in NIU's 37-27 win over Kent State.
 
Thomas, the only defensive lineman in the country to lead his team in tackles, made 10 stops Saturday at Kent State to lead the Huskies. He tied his career high with seven solo tackles in posting his second double figure tackle game of the year and added a tackle for loss.
 
Thomas finished the regular season with 69 tackles, the most by a Football Bowl Subdivision defensive lineman this season.  He has 35 solo stops and his seven tackles for loss also lead NIU. He is the first defensive lineman in school history to lead NIU in total tackles with records kept since 1971.
 
The Huskies outscored Kent State 27-10 in the second half to earn their sixth win of the season and punch their ticket to bowl season.  NIU held the Golden Flashes to 17 rushing yards in the second half.
 
Thomas is the sixth Huskie to earn a MAC West Player of the Week honor in 2023 and the second NIU defensive honoree. Senior linebacker Tyler Jackson (Alief, Texas/DeSoto) was the defensive player of the week following the Ball State (Nov. 7) game. Three Huskies – punt returner Dane Pardridge (DeKalb, Ill./Marmion Academy), kicker Kanon Woodill (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) and punter Tom Foley (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Notre Dame) were named special teams player of the week following their performances versus Western Michigan (Nov. 14), Ohio (Oct. 14) and Eastern Michigan (Oct. 21) respectively. Antario Brown (Savannah, Ga./Beach) was the MAC West offensive player of the week after rushing for 280 yards and four touchdowns in NIU's win at Akron (Oct. 7).
 
NIU, which will play in a bowl game for the 15th time as a FBS institution and for the 12th time since 2008, will learn its bowl destination on Sunday, December 3rd.
 
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