Payne Repeats, Kinner Runs Away as Jayhawks of the Week

Kelsie Payne claimed the Jayhawk of the Week for the second consecutive week after helping Kansas volleyball move to 6-0 on the season and Ke’aun Kinner ran away with the honor on the men’s side with an impressive debut on the gridiron, as selected by an internal panel Monday afternoon.

Payne continued her nearly unstoppable start to the season at the Kansas Invitational and earned Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honors after leading the league with 4.1 kills per set. She led KU with 37 kills in three, three-set wins over the weekend to earn All-Tournament honors. In KU’s three wins, she recorded a combined .464 hitting percentage, including a match with no attacking errors against UMKC (13k-0e-26a). 

Kinner was a key piece of Kansas’ best offensive output since the season-opener in 2007 as the Jayhawks compiled 576 yards of total offense. Kinner carried the ball 27 times for 157 yards and two touchdowns and had four carries of 20 yards or more. He was instrumental to the Jayhawk comeback attempt with 106 yards in the second half. Kinner’s debut was the top rushing effort since Tony Pierson tallied 202 yards on the ground vs. Texas Tech in 2012. 

“Going into the game, we knew he was a talented guy,” Kansas head football coach David Beaty said after Saturday’s game. “The one thing I wasn’t really quite sure of was his top-end speed. But he showed some things today that I thought were pretty good. We’re going to continue working with him on trying to just keep them shoulders squared and get going and trust his speed a little bit more. But he’s a talented guy.”