MANHATTAN, Kan. – For a third time this season Kansas State had a pair of players earn weekly honors from the conference, as junior quarterback Will Howard was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week and senior punter/kicker Ty Zentner earned Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week accolades, the conference office announced Monday.
It is the first honor for each player and gives K-State eight Big 12 weekly honors this season, the second most in the conference (Oklahoma State – 9) and its most since the Wildcats had nine in 2012.
In addition to his weekly conference honor, Howard was also named a Manning Award Star of the Week and is in the running for Manning Award Quarterback of the Week via a vote on Facebook.
Howard tied the school record with four touchdown passes in K-State’s 48-0 win over No. 9 Oklahoma State. The junior was 21-of-37 for 296 passing yards with no interceptions as he set a new career high in yards and tied his career high in completions. Each of Howard’s touchdown passes came in the first half as he became just the third quarterback in school history to throw four touchdown passes in a half, the other two being Michael Bishop (1997 vs. Northern Illinois) and Paul Watson (1988 vs. Louisiana Tech).
Zentner handled all three kicking duties for K-State for the first time this season. Two of his four punts were downed inside the 20-yard line in addition to hitting a 51-yarder, while five of his nine kickoffs were touchbacks. The senior also connected on both of his field goal attempts and all six extra point attempts.
Ranked 13th in this week’s Associated Press Top 25, Kansas State hosts Texas on Saturday inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The game, which serves as Harley Day and kicks off at 6 p.m., will be televised by FS1.
