MANHATTAN, Kansas – For the second time in his career, Kansas State senior Phillip Brooks has been named the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week, the conference office announced on Monday.
The honor comes on the heels of Brooks’ 76-yard punt return touchdown in K-State’s 40-12 victory over Missouri on Saturday, the fourth punt-return score of his career. He was first honored following the Kansas game in 2020 after returning two punts for touchdowns.
With K-State holding a 14-3 lead, Brooks provided a quick spark on the second play after a lightning delay of nearly an hour. The Lee’s Summit, Missouri product fielded the punt and alluded one defender before cutting across the field toward the Wildcat sideline and using a wall of protection on the way to the longest punt return of his career to put K-State up three scores.
Brooks now ranks first in school history with a career punt-return average of 17.7 yards, while the four punt-return touchdowns in his career rank second in K-State history. Both of those figures lead the nation among active FBS players. He also ranks eighth in school history with 549 career punt-return yards.
A wide receiver who has started 18 games in his career, Brooks also crossed the 1,000-yard threshold in career receiving yards against the Tigers, a mark that now stands at 1,008 as he became the 34th player in school history to accomplish the feat. Brooks is also one of 33 players in K-State history with at least 2,000 career all-purpose yards, entering this week’s game with 2,160 yards.
K-State, 2-0 for the third time in four years under head coach Chris Klieman, closes out non-conference action this Saturday against Tulane inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium. A limited number of scattered single and SRO tickets remain for the game, and those can be purchased online at www.k-statesports.com/tickets or by phone at 1-800-221-CATS.
The Wildcats and Green Wave kick off at 2 p.m., on Saturday, and the game can be seen on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
