Clemson RB Travis Etienne and Michigan State DE Kenny Willekes Named Walter Camp National FBS Players of the Week, presented by Generation UCAN

The Walter Camp Football Foundation has announced the Football Bowl Subdivision National Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, presented by Generation UCAN, for games ending August 31.   Games played on September 1 and 2 will be considered for next week’s awards.

About the Award: This is the 16th year that the Walter Camp Football Foundation will honor one offensive and one defensive player as its national Football Bowl Subdivision player of the week during the regular season. Recipients are selected by a panel of national media members and administered by the Foundation.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

TRAVIS ETIENNE, CLEMSON

Junior, Running Back, Jennings, LA/Jennings

Travis Etienne rushed for 205 yards (on just 12 carries) and scored three touchdowns as top-ranked Clemson defeated ACC-rival Georgia Tech, 52-14, in its 2019 season opener.  Etienne scored on runs of 90, 14 and 48 yards.  His 90-yard scoring run tied a school record.

Notes: Travis Etienne is the eighth Clemson player to receive Walter Camp National Player of the Week honors since 2004, and the first since former Tiger defensive end Austin Bryant (Sept. 10, 2017).

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

KENNY WILLEKES, MICHIGAN STATE

Senior, Defensive End, Rockford, MI/NorthPointe Christian

Kenny Willekes had two tackles for loss, recovered two fumbles and had one quarterback sack as 18th-ranked Michigan State opened the 2019 season with a 28-7 victory over Tulsa.  Willekes recovered one of his fumbles in the end zone for his first career defensive touchdown and added six assisted tackles as the Spartans held the Golden Hurricane to minus-73 yards rushing for the game. 

Notes: Kenny Willekes is the fifth Michigan State player to earn Walter Camp National Player of the Week honors since 2004, and the first since former Spartan linebacker Jon Reshke (Nov. 22, 2015).

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Walter Camp, “The Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation (www.waltercamp.org,@WalterCampFF) – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.  The Foundation is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients. For more information, visit the association’s website, www.ncfaa.org