Oklahoma football: Sooners nearly sweep Week 13 Big 12 awards
By Chip Rouse
A trio of Oklahoma football players received Big 12 Player of the Week awards for their performance in the win over West Virginia.
Quarterback Kyler Murray was named Offensive Player of the Week, redshirt freshman Kennedy Brooks earned Newcomer of the Week honors and all-purpose kicker Austin Seibert is Special Teams Player of the Week in the conference.
The only one of the four individual weekly awards that did not go to a Sooner was on defense. Interestingly, though, a case could have been made this week for an OU player in that category, as well.
TCU senior linebacker Juwaun Johnson is the Defensive Player of the Week.
This was the fifth time in the 13-week regular season that Murray has been named Offensive Player of the Week. Murray threw for 364 yards and three touchdowns and added 110 more on the ground and another score in the Sooners’ 59-56 win on Friday at West Virginia. The OU Heisman candidate passed for 300 yards and rushed for 100 yards for the second time this season. No other Sooner player has ever accomplished that feat even once.
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Brooks is the Newcomer of the Week, but he is not a newcomer to that award in his first full season operating out of the Oklahoma backfield. Pressed into extra duty because of injuries to four other OU running backs, Brooks has won the Newcomer award three times this season.
In the West Virginia game, Brooks rushed for a career-high 182 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown run, and averaged over eight yards per carry.
Seibert, who handles all of the kicking responsibilities for the Sooners, accounted for 11 points against West Virginia on eight of eight extra points and a 37-yard field goal. Seibert is the OU and Big 12 career scoring leader. In addition to contributing 11 of the Sooners 59 points at West Virginia, he also recorded touchbacks on eight of 10 kickoffs.
Oklahoma earned a league-high 12 individual weekly awards this season, with Murray, Brooks and Seibert each winning multiple awards.