🏈 Pooka Williams Jr., Earns Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week

 LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas’ Pooka Williams Jr., was named the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week, the Big 12 Conference announced on Monday. The honor is his fifth-career weekly Big 12 recognition and the first of the special teams variety.

In the fourth quarter of Saturday’s contest at West Virginia, Williams received the West Virginia kickoff at the 8-yard line and out-ran defenders for a 92-yard touchdown. The kickoff return touchdown was the first for Kansas since 2016 when Laquvionte Gonzalez returned a kickoff 99 yards against Ohio.

The kickoff return touchdown was the first of Williams’ career and his 17th touchdown overall. This season, Williams has returned seven kicks for 197 yards while his career numbers include 18 kickoff returns for 443 yards.

The honor is the first for a member of KU special teams since October 28, 2019, when Liam Jones was named Special Teams Player of the Week after kicking the game-winning field goal against Texas Tech. It is Kansas’ first weekly Big 12 honor this season.

The Big 12 Conference announced West Virginia’s Leddie Brown as the Offensive Player of the Week, Josh Chandler-Semedo as Defensive Player of the Week and Akheem Mesidor as Newcomer of the Week.

Williams and the Jayhawks will be back in action on Saturday, October 17, when they take on the Kansas State Wildcats in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown. The game will kickoff at 11 a.m., and will air on FS1 from Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas.