Credit: Jon Austria/The Coloradoan. Courtesy of Associated Press
LOGAN – Two Utah State football players were awarded Mountain West player of the week honors for their performances in the Aggies’ 17-13 win at Colorado State on Saturday — freshman quarterback Bishop Davenport and junior punter Stephen Kotsanlee.
Davenport was named Mountain West Freshman of the Week. The Texas native made his career debut despite being the fourth-string QB to start the season. He passed for 41 yards on 3-of-9 passing and also had 29 yards rushing and one touchdown on the ground. He led two scoring drives in the third quarter that led USU back. Davenport is the first true freshman QB to attempt a pass in a game for the Aggies since Andrew Peasley’s garbage-time snaps against San Jose State in 2018.
“You could see very clearly that the moment was not too big for him,” USU head coach Blake Anderson said. “He is a very calm, competitive individual. He’s played in stadiums full of 40 and 50,000 people in the playoffs in Texas. It’s not something that really took him back. He connected the dots really well. Did not turn the ball over which is what you asky any freshman to do. And he did a great job with his feet.”
Kotsanlee punted five times against the Rams on Saturday. Three of those punts went for 50 or more yards (59, 58 and 55 yards) and averaged 47.2 for the day with one punt being downed at the three-yard line. He did have one punt blocked. Anderson said the Australian punter is “extremely versatile and very consistent. He also called Kotsanlee a “weapon.”
“He does a phenomenal job at putting the ball where we need him to. The block had nothing to do with him, it’s just a pure bust up front,” Anderson said. “His ability to place the ball in different areas of the field out of the same look is unique. He’s got a tremendous amount of control. The hang time that we get from him to allow us to cover. And when needed, he can sit it down there and really flip the field.”
This is the first weekly award for either player. Kotsanlee did earn Honorable Mention All-Mountain West in 2020.
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