Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders and North Carolina LB Kaimon Rucker Named Walter Camp National FBS Players of the Week (Sept. 3)
The Walter Camp Football Foundation has announced the Football Bowl Subdivision National Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week for games ending September 2. Please note: Outstanding performances from games played on September 3 and 4 will be considered for next week’s awards.
About the Award: This is the 20th 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. It is the nation’s longest running Player of Week award.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior, Quarterback, Dallas, TX
Shedeur Sanders passed for a school-record 510 yards and threw for four touchdowns as Colorado defeated 17th-ranked TCU, 45-42. Sanders, who completed 38-of-47 passes in the game, led the Buffs to their first win against a ranked opponent since 2019, connected to four different CU receivers who totaled over 100 yards each. Sanders also became the first player since 1996 to throw for 500+ yards in his FBS debut.
Notes: Shedeur Sanders is the third Colorado player (and first offensive honoree) to earn Walter Camp National FBS Player of Week honors since 2004, joining former Buffaloes Terrence Wheatley (DB, Oct. 28, 2007) and Nate Landman (LB, Nov. 29, 2020).
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior, Linebacker, Hartwell, GA
Senior linebacker Kaimon Rucker recorded eight tackles (6 solo), including 5.5 tackles for loss, and two quarterback sacks as North Carolina opened the 2023 season with a 31-17 victory over South Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Classic. Rucker led a Tar Heel defense that tallied nine sacks and limited South Carolina to -2 yards rushing.
Notes: It is the seventh time a North Carolina player has earned Walter Camp National Player of the Year honors since 2004. Kaimon Rucker is the first Tar Heel defensive POW honoree since DE Kareem Martin (Nov. 17, 2013).
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
