Dan Mullen gave out his Players of the Week awards on Monday, and 2 of them were from the Big Ten.

The ESPN college football analyst and former Florida and Mississippi State head coach spotlighted Illinois defensive back Xavier Scott and Rutgers running back Kyle Monangai as 2 of his 5 Players of the Week.

The junior Scott was simply everywhere for the Fighting Illini in Saturday’s 23-17 upset of then-No. 19 Kansas in Champagne. He had 2 interceptions to go with 8 tackles, 1 sack and 1 tackle-for-loss. One of the interceptions was a 30-yard pick-6 with 36 seconds left in the 2nd quarter that gave Illinois a 13-10 halftime lead.

Scott’s heroics helped 2-0 Illinois nearly break into the Top 25, as the Illini are 1st in the “others receiving votes” category going into a Week 3 matchup with Central Michigan.

Meanwhile, Monangai was unstoppable for the Scarlet Knights in Saturday’s 49-17 victory over Akron, piling up 208 yards rushing on 27 carries and 3 touchdowns. Monangai has 373 yards rushing in the 1st 2 weeks of the season, after rushing for 165 yards in a Week 1 victory over Howard.

Monangai is trying for an encore performance in 2024, coming off a dazzling 2023 during which he rushed for 1,262 yards and scored 8 touchdowns for the Scarlet Knights.

After a bye week, Monangai and Rutgers will try to go 3-0 on Sept. 21 at Virginia Tech.