Redshirt-junior defensive end Jayden Jones has been named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday.

Jones had a career night to help A-State to a 44-28 win at Southern Miss. Jones tallied a career high eight tackles, a career-high three tackles for loss, including two sacks, and forced two turnovers in the second half. The SMU transfer snagged his first career interception early in the third quarter and ended the game with his first career forced fumble. Jones accounted for three of A-State's season-high 11 tackles for loss and two of the five sacks, most for the A-State defense since 2021. Jones finished with five stops in the contest, which are constituted as “failures” by the offense.

Jones is A-State’s first SBC Defensive Player of the Week since Justin Rice on Oct. 12, 2020. It is the fourth weekly honor of the season for A-State following Clune Van Andel (Sept. 2/Oct. 7) and Courtney Jackson (Sept. 9) earning the league’s Special Teams Player of the Week honors a combined three times. The four weekly honors through eight weeks of the season are A-State’s most since having five in 2020.

A-State (4-3, 3-1) returns to Centennial Bank Stadium Saturday to host Troy. Kickoff is set for 6:00 PM with the game broadcast on ESPN+.