DAVIS, Calif. -- UC Davis junior punter
Daniel Whelan captured ROOT SPORTS Big Sky Conference Special Teams Player of the Week honors for his performance in Saturday's 66th Causeway Classic matchup at Sacramento State, the league office announced Sunday afternoon.
This is the fourth such award for the sustainable environmental design major from Rancho Mirage, California. He won the honor on September 10, October 29 and November 19 of last season. Whelan also represents the fifth recipient of a Big Sky weekly award in 2019:
Devon King tied for Defensive Player on Sept. 9,
Jake Maier won Offensive Player a week later, then
Nick Eaton claimed the defensive accolade on both Oct. 13 and Nov. 11.
Whelan punted seven times for a gross average of 39.71 in Saturday's 27-17 loss to the Hornets. However, his performance was not marked for his distance but rather his accuracy: of the seven, six punts put Sacramento State in its own red zone and five pinned the hosts inside the 7-yard line. Whelan's kicks left the Hornets with field positions of 1, 2, 7, 4 and 7 over the course of the game. On the 1-yard-line punt, cornerback
Jordan Perryman made a leaping snag to down the ball before it could cross the plane of the end zone.
In fact, so effective was Whelan's punting that Sac State returner Dewey Cotton opted for fair catches on the 4 and the 7 during two fourth-quarter punts.
UC Davis finished the season with a 5-7 overall record, having played seven opponents who either ranked or received votes toward the FCS top 25 polls. The Aggies will now await the announcement of the All-Big Sky Conference awards, to be announced this Tuesday.
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