Pittsburgh RB Israel Abanikanda and Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell Named Walter Camp National FBS Players of the Week Presented by 777 Partners
– The Walter Camp Football Foundation has announced the Football Bowl Subdivision National Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, presented by 777 Partners, for games ending October 8.
About the Award: This is the 19th 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
Junior, Running Back, Brooklyn, NY/Abraham Lincoln HS
Israel Abanikanda set a Pittsburgh school single-game record with 320 rushing yards (on 36 attempts) and tied a school and Atlantic Coast Conference record with six touchdowns as the Panthers defeated Virginia Tech, 45-29. Abanikanda broke former Walter Camp Player of Year Tony Dorsett’s previous school record of 303 yards (set on Nov. 15, 1975 vs. Notre Dame). Abanikanda scored on runs of 38, 17, 29, 5, 10 and 80 yards as Pittsburgh improved to 4-2, 1-1 in the ACC.
Notes: Israel Abankianda is the eighth Pittsburgh player to earn Walter Camp National Player of Week honors since 2004 and the first since former Panther running back Darrin Hall (Nov. 5, 2018).
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore, Cornerback, Williston, FL/Williston HS
Quinyon Mitchell recorded three tackles and made four interceptions, including two he returned for touchdowns, as Toledo defeated Northern Illinois, 52-32. Mitchell had interception returns of 20 and 25 yards for scores as the Rockets improved to 4-2, 2-0 in the Mid-American Conference.
Notes: Quinyon Mitchell is the second Toledo player to earn Walter Camp National Player of Week honors since 2004, and the first since former Rocket defensive back DeJuan Rogers (Sept. 13, 2015).
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
777 Partners is a Miami based private investment firm that invests across a number of high growth attractive verticals with a strong focus on financial services. Founded in 2015, 777 Partners initially applied its expertise in underwriting and financing esoteric assets to diversify across a broad spectrum of financial services businesses, asset originators, and financial technology/service providers. In recent years, the firm has broadened its mandate and now invests across six different industries: insurance, consumer and commercial finance, litigation finance, direct lending, sports, media and entertainment, and aviation.
