The University of Mary Marauders

The NDPF Male Athlete of the Week is Mujeeb Rufai, wide receiver from the UMary Football team. Although the Marauders fell to a tough Augustana team 38-7 in week one, Rufai turned a lot of heads whenever he touched the football. The former Idaho Vandal finished as the Marauders top receiver in the game with five catches for 52 yards, plenty of which were recorded after he made the catch. 

The biggest play of the afternoon came on a third and one from the Augustana 18-yard line. Just before quarterback Sofian Massoud took a big hit from an Augie pass-rusher, he threw a dot over the middle to Rufai on a slant. As the ball zipped passed Rufai eye level, he threw his right hand up to make a tremendous one-handed grab before barrelling past a Viking into the endzone for the first Marauders touchdown of the 2023 season. 

Rufai is a junior from Portland, OR in his first season in the orange and blue.