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Quarterbacks, Badgers highlight B1G Players of the Week
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It was easy to forget that Saturday was Alex Hornibrook’s first career start.
The redshirt freshman was the subject of one of the more even quarterback battles throughout the offseason. The southpaw had also appeared in games for Wisconsin in non-conference play, including his clutch relief effort against Georgia State.
Watching Hornibrook on Saturday, he certainly didn’t look like he was making his first career start on the road against No. 8 Michigan State. He converted 9-of-13 third downs for 136 yards and a touchdown in a dominant 30-6 victory in East Lansing. There was nothing freshman about Hornibrook’s performance.
Still, he was recognized as that by the B1G.
Hornibrook picked up B1G Freshman of the Week honors after his impressive first start. That, of course, was just one side of the ball for Wisconsin.
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Hornibrook’s teammate, T.J. Watt, also earned a weekly award for his dominance in East Lansing. The junior linebacker was named the B1G Defensive Player of the Week for his 2.5-sack effort against the Spartans. Watt, who had 3.5 tackles for loss, helped lead a Badger attack that held MSU without a touchdown for the second time since 2000.
On the offensive side, the B1G weekly honor went to Tommy Armstrong Jr. The Nebraska quarterback was named B1G Offensive Player of the Week for the third time in his career after leading the Huskers to a 24-13 win at Northwestern in the conference opener. Armstrong rushed for a career-high 132 yards and threw for 246 yards and a touchdown without turning the ball over.
The B1G West swept the weekly awards for the first time this season. The B1G Special Teams Player of the Week was Iowa punter Ron Coluzzi, who was key for the Hawkeyes in low-scoring affair at Rutgers. He dropped four of his seven punts inside the 20-yard line and he boomed a season-best 55-yard punt.
Coluzzi was the first Hawkeye to receive the award since kicker Marshall Koehn did after doing this:
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.