From K-State
Three Kansas State football players – Skylar Thompson, Jahron McPherson and Deuce Vaughn – have been named Big 12 Players of the Week following the Wildcats’ come-from-behind victory at No. 3 Oklahoma, the conference office announced Monday.
Thompson and McPherson were co-winners of the offensive and defensive awards, respectively, while Vaughn picked up Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors. It marked the first time since the 2015 West Virginia game that K-State had three conference weekly award winners.
The trio helped the Wildcats earn their first-ever road win over a team ranked in the top five of the Associated Press Top 25 Poll. Additionally, K-State rallied from a 21-point deficit to tie a school record that had been achieved four other times, but it was the latest start to the comeback among those five victories.
Thompson, a native of Independence, Missouri, earned his third career weekly conference honor as he was named the newcomer of the week after the Oklahoma State and Iowa State games in 2017. Thompson threw for a career-high 334 yards and had four total touchdowns, including three rushing scores. He connected on 18-of-25 passes, which included a 39-yard touchdown to Chabastin Taylor and a pair of long connects with Vaughn (77) and Keyon Mozee (78) that set up his own rushing scores.
A product of Basehor, Kansas, McPherson carded 11 tackles – including one for a loss – a forced fumble that led to a touchdown on the ensuing Wildcat drive and a game-clinching interception with 34 seconds remaining. McPherson, who was named the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week on Sunday, is the first Wildcat since at least 2002 to total double-digit tackles, a TFL, a forced fumble and an interception in a single game.
Vaughn, a true freshman running back from Round Rock, Texas, had 174 all-purpose yards, which was highlighted by 129 receiving yards on four catches and a game-tying 38-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. He became the first Wildcat running back in 50 years and fifth overall to record a 100-yard receiving game, the last being Henry Hawthorne at Oklahoma in 1970. It was also the most receiving yards by a true freshman running back in Big 12 history and tied for the fifth most by any running back since the conference’s inception in 1996.
