When IUP lost their most celebrated player and their captain to injury a few weeks ago, the team was shaken up, and while they won that game, rebounding from the loss of RJ Beach had to be a key part of the rest of their season.
Enter Brian Arnold, who stepped in as the captain, and now our GRR Men's D2 Player of the Week.
"Brian has been great," said Head Coach Seth Erwin. "Twelve tries on the year, elevated to Captain with RJ out a while; he has been our go-to dynamic threat inserting into our attack and steering the defense from fullback."
A smart rugby player who is also effective on defense and can poach a ball in the breakdown, too, Arnold scored three tries in the game where Beach was injured, and continues to stand tall for the team.
"Brian is a valuable leader," added Erwin. "From the 15 spot he's directing our defense much more with RJ being out of the lineup. He directs bodies to cover gaps and is a huge reason why we are averaging only 5.6 points against. He has great awareness to be able to insert into the attack in various spots creating overloads. That ability to read the open channels."
No wonder Arnold leads IUP all-time in career tries.
