Freeman, Figurs honored by Big 12 Conference

Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman picked up his second Big 12 Offensive Player-of-the-Week honor in as many weeks and wide receiver/return specialist Yamon Figurs was named the league's co-Special Teams Player of the Week for their performances in the Wildcats' 45-42 win over Texas last weekend, conference officials announced Monday.

It is the third straight week that Kansas State has produced at least one of the league's players of the week.

Freeman becomes just the second Big 12 player to win the award in back-to-back weeks this season - Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson did it back in early September - and the first Wildcat to do so since Josh Scobey was selected on Oct. 27 (Kansas) and Nov. 3 (Iowa State) of the 2001 season.

The weekly award is the first of Figurs' career and marks the third time this season that a Wildcat has been voted as the Big 12's top special team performer.

Freeman passed for three touchdowns and ran for a fourth in the win over Texas. He finished the game 19-for-31 passing for 269 yards, including touchdowns of 36, 32 and 30 yards. All told, Freeman was good on six passes for over 20 yards and had eight completions of 15 yards or longer while connecting with nine different receivers and leading the Cats on seven scoring drives.

Figurs had a career receiving night with six catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns, but was equally as impressive on his lone punt return of the night.

Taking the ball at Kansas State 40 with the game tied at 14 in the second quarter, Figurs broke up the middle then raced 52 yards down the right sideline before finally being stopped just eight yards shy of the end zone. Leon Patton scored on the very next play to give K-State a 21-14 lead with 6:17 to go before the half.

With the selections of Freeman and Figurs, Kansas State has now had six Player of the Week winners, the most for the Wildcats since 2000, when K-State captured seven weekly awards.

Ian Campbell was tapped as the Big 12's defensive player of the week for his efforts in K-State's season-opening victory over Illinois State, while Leon Patton picked up the league's weekly special teams award after returning a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown in the Cats' victory over Oklahoma State. Brandon Archer also earned special teams honors for his play in K-State's win over Iowa State, before Freeman picked up his first award for his efforts at Colorado.