K-State's Jordan Willis named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week

After climbing up the Kansas State career sack list once again on Saturday in the Wildcats’ 24-21 victory over Texas, senior defensive end Jordan Willis was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, the conference office announced Monday.

Willis picked up his first-career Big 12 weekly honor and the second by a Wildcat defender this season. K-State ranks second in the Big 12 with 43 conference player of the week honors since 2011, including six in 2016.

A product of Kansas City, Missouri, Willis filled up the stat sheet as he carded seven tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, a pair of sacks, a forced fumble and a pass breakup. The senior, who leads the Big 12 in both sacks and TFLs, improved his season sack total to 8.0 to rank third in the nation, while he now has 11.5 TFLs this year to stand seventh nationally.

Willis now has 22.5 career sacks as he moved into fourth place in Kansas State history, the most by a Wildcat since Darren Howard set the school record with 29.5 from 1996-99. He also has 34.5 career TFLs, just 4.5 shy of entering the school’s top-10 list that does not include anyone that has played in the last 15 years.

K-State travels to Iowa State this Saturday in an 11 a.m., contest that will be shown nationally on FSN. The game can also be heard across the K-State Sports Network.