Eastern wide receiver Adam Drake earned Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the week honors after his 109-yard receiving performance against Minnesota on Thursday.

Drake finished the season opener in Minneapolis, Minn., with 11 catches for 109 yards and one touchdown. The Panthers lost 42-20.

Drake’s 11 catches were the fourth most for any FCS-level player. Drake’s touchdown came on the last play of the game on a 32-yard pass from quarterback Andrew Manley. Drake now has 1,767 career receiving yards and 120 career receptions. It was his seventh career 100-yard receiving game.

Drake, a red-shirt senior and native of Charleston, started all 14 games for the Panthers last season and was a second-team All-OVC selection in 2013.

The Panthers take on Southern Illinois-Carbondale at 6 p.m. Saturday at O’Brien Field.

Garoppolo eyes Patriots backup spot

After a trade between the Houston Texans and New England Patriots on Sunday, former Eastern quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo looks to be in good position to back up Tom Brady on the New England roster.

The Patriots sent quarterback Ryan Mallet, a 2011 third round pick out of Arkansas, to the Texans for a conditional sixth or seventh-round draft pick in 2016.

Garoppolo played all of New England’s preseason finale Thursday in East Ruthorford, N.J., in the Patriots’ 16-13 loss to the New York Giants.

Garoppolo finished 22-of-42 for 284 yards, throwing one touchdown and one interception.

Garoppolo, New England’s second round pick, led scoring drives of 81, 61 and 59 yards. Garoppolo’s touchdown came early in the second quarter with a 33-yard pass to wide receiver Aaron Dobson. Kicker Stephen Gostkowski had two field goals.

The game ended with New York’s Josh Brown kicking a 37-yard field goal with 38 seconds to play to put the Giants ahead.

Garoppolo finished the preseason 46-of-79 (58.2 percent) for 618 yards with five touchdowns and one interception. He finished with the second most yards in the preseason behind Tennessee Titan quarterback Zach Mettenberger, who passed for 659 yards.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].