- Copyright 2024 © CollegeFootballPoll.com
- About CFP / Contact
- Legal Statements
(NOTE: In addition to numerous other awards, CollegeFootballPoll.com's Dave Congrove is a season-end voter for these awards in this article: Ray Guy, Bednarik, Maxwell, Lou Groza, Outland Trophy, Bronko Nagurski)
In no particular order, here are the Players of the Week, as announced by some of college football's major award recipients.
The Maxwell Football Club announces that Alabama defensive back Caleb Downs has been named the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Week after leading the Crimson Tide to a sound victory over Mississippi State. In the 40-17 victory, Downs tallied 13 tackles and added his first interception of the season. The safety's interception came midway through the fourth quarter on a fourth and four to put the game on ice. Downs’ 40 tackles on the year lead the Crimson Tide defense. Downs also has a tackle for loss and a pass break up in Alabama’s five games this season. No.11 Crimson Tide will now travel to Texas A&M to take on the Aggies in a conference matchup.
Weekly Winners
Week 5: Caleb Downs, DB, Alabama
Week 4: Rocco Becht, QB, Iowa State
Week 3: Jordan Castell, S, Florida
Week 2: Anthony Hill, Jr., LB, Texas
Week 1: Dylan Edwards, RB, Colorado
The Augusta Sports Council and the Ray Guy Award are proud to announce Oscar Chapman of Auburn as the Ray Guy Award Punter of the Week for Week 5 games. Chapman was chosen from Ray's 8, announced Monday. Chapman punted 5 times during the game against Georgia for a total of 256 yards. His gross average was 51.2 and his net average was 52.4 due to him having only one punt returned for -6 yards. Three of his punts ended up inside Georgia's 20-yard line and he had a long punt of 71 yards.
Weekly Winners
Week 5: Oscar Chapman, Auburn
Week 4: Matt Hayball, Vanderbilt
Week 3: Tyler Perkins, Iowa State
Week 2: James Burnip, Alabama
Week 1: Ryan Rehkow, BYU
Jeremy Flax and the Kentucky Wildcats ran over one of the nation’s top defenses Saturday, rolling up 329 rushing yards in a 33-14 win over Florida. Flax, who graded at 87 percent and led the Wildcats’ “Big Blue Wall” to bulldoze its way to a 23-0 first-half lead with its ground game, has earned the Outland Trophy National Player of the Week honor for games during the weekend of Sept. 30, as selected by the Football Writers Association of America.
Flax, a 6-6, 325-pound senior from Detroit, Mich., had five knockdown blocks as the Wildcats (5-0) used Ray Davis’ 280 rushing yards to get out to the fast start. Florida had entered the game 14th in the nation in run defense having allowed only 82 yards per game. Davis had topped that by the end of the first quarter, and the line helped Kentucky create six rushes of at least 15 yards. Davis’ 280 yards are the third-most in a single-game in program history – he subbed out of the game midway through the fourth quarter just 19 yards short of the school record. The performance, with Flax out in front, earned Davis the Doak Walker National Running Back of the Week honor and national player of the week honors from The Maxwell Football Club and the Walter Camp Football Foundation.
Flax didn’t allow a sack or a quarterback pressure, didn’t commit a penalty and didn’t miss an assignment in the win.
Kentucky (5-0, 2-0 SEC) has its toughest test awaiting Saturday when it travels to Georgia (5-0, 2-0 SEC) for a 7 p.m. ET matchup between the hedges on ESPN.
The Wildcats are ranked 20th in the AP and Coaches' Poll, and effectively ranked 18th in the Super 16 Poll. They stand at No. 14 in the Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com.
The Bulldogs are No. 1 in the AP, Coaches' and Super 16 polls, and No. 7 by the computer.
Weekly Winners
Week 5: Jeremy Flax, OL, Kentucky
Week 4: Olumuyiwa Fashanu, OT, Penn State
Week 3: Joe Alt, OT, Notre Dame
Week 2: Anez Cooper, G, Miami (FL)
Week 1: Tanor Bortoloini, C, Wisconsin
Kentucky running back Ray Davis has been named Maxwell Award Player of The Week after the Wildcats took down the #22 Florida Gators. The 5’10 216 senior would boast 26 carries for a career-high 280 yards rushing, a career-best three rushing touchdowns, and one receiving touchdown. Davis’s performance would also push him past the 3,000-yard rushing mark for his career (3,091) and become the ninth player in UK history to rush for more than 200 yards in a game. Additionally, the San Francisco native would tie the school record for the most total touchdowns in a game with his four. Kentucky will travel down to Athens, GA next weekend to face off against No.1 Georgia on Saturday, Oct. 7 p.m. ET.
Weekly Winners
Week 5: Ray Davis, RB, Kentcuky
Week 4: Cameron Ward, QB, Washington State
Week 3: Michael Penix, Jr., QB, Washington
Week 2: Quinn Ewers, QB, Texas
Week 1: Jordan, QB, Florida State
Notre Dame defensive lineman Howard Cross III has been named Bednarik Player of The Week after a nail-biter against Duke this past weekend. Cross would post 13 total tackles; 3.5 TFL, one sack, two forced fumbles, and one quarterback hurry. The Jersey native’s second force fumble would help seal the Blue Devils' fate, as he would also set a career-high for his total tackles. Additionally, he is one of only three FBS defensive linemen to record 10+ tackles in a game for 2023. The Irish are on the road again as they head to Louisville to take on the Cardinals this Saturday, Oct. 7.
Weekly Winners
Week 5: Howard Cross III, DL, Notre Dame
Week 4: Dallas Turner, LB, Alabama
Week 3: Daquan Evans, DB, USF
Week 2: Jaden Hicks, DB, Washington State
Week 1: Kaimon Rucker, LB, North Carolina
College football’s top kicking award is presented by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission. Each week, they announce the Lou Groza Award "Stars of the Week".
John Hoyland of Wyoming tied a career-best with a 4-for-4 field goal performance in a 35-26 win over New Mexico. The Cowboys won their Mountain West opener thanks in large part to the junior, who made a pair of 38-yard kicks to go with connections from 34 and 26 yards out. The Broomfield, Colo. native also made all three PAT attempts for a 15-point game. The 2022 Groza semifinalist is now 8-for-8 on field goals this year and is the only FBS kicker still perfect while having multiple attempts from over 50 yards.
Will Reichard of Alabama is the only kicker with double-digit field goal attempts who has yet to miss. He added four more to his tally in the Crimson Tide’s 40-17 road romp over Mississippi State. The graduate senior from Hoover, Ala. is now 11-for-11 on the year after connecting from 34, 38 and twice from 48 yards out. A finalist for the Groza Award in 2020, Reichard added four extra points for a 16-point game, the most by a kicker this week. That pushes his career total to 474 points, moving him into the top five among kickers in FBS history.
Drew Stevens of Iowa was crucial in a 26-16 win over Michigan State with three of his four field goals coming in the second half to turn a six-point deficit into a victory. The sophomore from North Augusta, S.C. kicked his longest field goal of the season, a 53 yarder, to go with makes from 40, 36 and 34 yards out. With two PATs as well, his 14-point game accounted for more than half of Iowa’s scoring. A semifinalist for the Groza Award last year as a freshman, Stevens is off to an 8-for-9 start this season.
Weekly Winners
Week 5: John Hoyland (Wyoming), Will Reichard (Alabama), Drew Stevens (Iowa)
Week 4: Michael Lantz (Georgia Southern), Trey Smack (Florida), Dominic Zvada (Arkansas State)
Week 3: Harrison Mevis (Missouri), Jose Pizano (UNLV), Noah Rauschenberg (North Texas)
Week 2: Colton Boomer (UCF), Caden Davis (Ole Miss), Camden Lewis (Oregon)
Week 1: Josh Karty (Stanford), Andrew Stein (Southern Miss) Brock Travelstead (Louisville)
Kentucky running back Ray Davis totaled 289 yards from scrimmage and scored a school-record-tying four touchdowns in Kentucky’s 33-14 win over Florida. The performance earned him the Doak Walker National Running Back of the Week honor for games of the weekend of Sept. 30.
The 5-10, 216-pound graduate transfer from San Francisco, Calif., ran for 206 yards in the first half as the ‘Cats bolted to a 23-0 halftime advantage. On the afternoon, Davis finished with 280 rushing yards, the third-best single-game performance in program history.
Davis caught a nine-yard scoring pass before busting a 75-yard touchdown run that capped the first-half scoring, His two-yard scoring run early in the third quarter put Kentucky back up by 23 at 30-7. The performance also earned him national player of the week honors from the Maxwell Football Club and the Walter Camp Football Foundation. His left tackle Jeremy Flax was named the Outland Trophy National Player of the Week.
Saturday, the 5-0 Wildcats head to Athens, Ga., to challenge the top-ranked Georgia in a 7 p.m. ET tilt on ESPN.
Other candidates for the honor in Week 5 included:
Weekly Winners
Week 5: Ray Davis, Kentucky
Week 4: DJ Giddens, Kansas State
Week 3: Trevor Etienne, Florida
Week 2: Omarion Hampton, North Carolina
Week 1: Dylan Edwards, Colorado
DALLAS (FWAA) – Caden Jenkins’ first career interception kickstarted Baylor’s largest comeback in school history, and the cornerback contributed again with a fourth-quarter fumble return for a touchdown Saturday in the Bears’ 36-35 win at UCF. The dynamic game-changing plays earned Jenkins, a freshman, the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week honor for games during the weekend of Sept. 30, as selected by the Football Writers Association of America.
Jenkins, a 6-foot-1 cornerback from Lewisville, Texas, stole the interception on the Baylor 14-yard line to snuff out a UCF drive in the red zone with 37 seconds left in the third quarter and the Bears trailing 35-10. Nine minutes later following two Baylor touchdowns and two-point conversions, Jenkins grabbed a loose ball and returned it 72 yards for a touchdown that brought the Bears to within 35-33 with 6:02 left. Isaiah Hankins’ 25-yard field goal with 1:21 left was the decider.
Jenkins also had two tackles in the game and earned the Big 12’s Defensive Player of the Week award.
Baylor has not had a Bronko Nagurski Trophy honoree in its past. But its two most recent FWAA All-Americans have come from the defensive side in linemen James Lynch (2019) and Andrew Billings (2015). The Bears’ last defensive back to earn FWAA All-America honors was Thomas Everett in 1986.
Weekly Winners
Week 5: Caden Jenkins, CB, Baylor
Week 4: Maxwell Hairston, CB, Kentucky
Week 3: Carlton Johnson, DB, Fresno State
Week 2: Ron Stone, Jr., EDGE, Washington State
Week 1: Travis Hunter, CB, Colorado