MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State senior kick returner Morgan Burns picked up his second-consecutive Big 12 weekly honor on Monday as he was again named the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week following his performance in K-State’s thrilling 38-35 victory over Iowa State, the conference office announced.
It marked the second time in the last three years a Wildcat has earned a weekly conference honor in consecutive weeks (Ryan Mueller, 2013 vs. Iowa State and Texas Tech), while it was the first in the special teams category since David Allen was honored following the Iowa State and Texas games in 1999. With Burns’ honor last week and Jack Cantele’s accolade following the Louisiana Tech game, K-State now has a staggering 18 Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week honors since 2011 (3.6 per year).
For the second-straight week, Burns returned a kickoff for a score as he went 100 yards against the Cyclones in the second quarter. It was Burns’ third return for a score in 2015, while he became the first player in school history with two 100-yard returns in a season and first in the Big 12 since Fozzy Whittaker (Texas) in 2011. Burns is the only player nationally this year with two 100-yard returns, while his three kickoff return scores rank second in both school and Big 12 history.
A product of Wichita, Kansas, Burns ranks sixth nationally this season in kickoff-return average (30.2), while he is second in school history in single-season kickoff-return yards (846) and fifth for a career (1,280). Additionally, he ranks fourth in school history in both season and career (28.4) return average.
This week’s honor comes on the heels of breaking the school record with 221 kickoff-return yards at Texas Tech, which featured a 93-yard kickoff return touchdown.
The 113th edition of the Dillons Sunflower Showdown takes place on Saturday as the Wildcats travel to Lawrence, Kansas, to face KU at 3 p.m., in Memorial Stadium in a game televised nationally by FS1.