This week's Missouri Valley Football Conference Players of the Week are QB Kurt Hess of Youngstown State; OLB Jeremy Springer of Missouri State; DB Tevin Allen of Illinois State; PK Thomas Kinney of Southern Illinois; and TB Martin Ruiz of Youngstown State.
Offense
QB Kurt Hess, Youngstown State
6-3, 235, Sr., Dayton (Ohio) Chaminade-Julienne
Hess completed 22-of-26 passes for 283 yards and two scores while rushing for another in a come-from-behind 38-34 win at South Dakota. The Coyotes entered the game allowing just 125 yards passing per game. Hess had 190 in the first half. YSU trailed 34-31 when it started its final drive at its own 26-yard line with just over two minutes left. Hess guided his second fourth-quarter comeback of the season marching the Guins 74 yards in 10 plays – on the drive he was 3-of-4 for 43 yards. He had passing scores of 40 and three yards and ran for a score from four yards out. Hess opened the game with nine straight completions. As a unit, YSU had 517 total offensive yards. USD was allowing just 297.5 per game.
Co-Defense
OLB Jeremy Springer, Missouri State
6-1, 208, Jr., Villa Rica (Ga.) High / Dodge City [Kan.] CC
Springer snagged two interceptions, including a 51-yard touchdown return in the third quarter, to help Missouri State claim its third straight MVFC victory. Springer later halted another Indiana State drive with a 34-yard interception return in the fourth quarter, giving him 85 total INT return yards in the game. The transfer from Dodge City (Kan.) Community College also contributed a pair of tackles from his outside linebacker post, helping MSU's defense outgain Indiana State's offense in the game by a 211-210 margin. Springer tallied half of the Bears' four interceptions in the game, and had one of the club's three interception returns for touchdowns which established a new MSU and MVFC record.
Co-Defense
DB Tevin Allen, Illinois State
5-9, 165, Jr.-2L, Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas
Allen started at safety for the first time in his career and proceed to have his best performance in a Redbird uniform. The Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., native finished the game with a career-high eight tackles, all of which were solo stops, and added a tackle-for-loss, his second interception of the season and returned a fumble 17 yards for a touchdown. Late in the first quarter, Allen scooped up failed lateral attempt by the Panthers and raced to the end zone for his first career score. He also added his second interception of the season in the second quarter and downed a punt at the UNI one yard line late in the fourth quarter to cap off a stellar day. Allen and the rest of the stingy Redbird defense allowed a season-low three points and just 211 yards of total offense to UNI in the 13-3 victory over the Panthers.
Special Teams
K Thomas Kinney, Southern Illinois
6-0, 181, Jr., Johnsburg (Ill.) High School/Winona State
Kinney was a perfect 2-for-2 on field goal attempts and hit a career-long 52-yarder in SIU’s 34-28 win over Western Illinois. The 52-yard field goal was one yard shy of the longest by an FCS kicker this season and tied for the second-longest in school history. In addition, he converted all four of his PATs and delivered four touchbacks on seven kickoffs.
Newcomer
TB Martin Ruiz, Youngstown State
5-11, 195, Fr., Tampa (Fla.) Robinson
The freshman continued his strong campaign amassing 235 all-purpose yards in the come-from-behind win at South Dakota. Ruiz had 22 rushes for 131 yards and two touchdowns, returned four kickoffs for 85 yards and had two catches for 19 yards in the game. He had scores of six and three yards. His three-yard run with 14 seconds left helped seal the come-from-behind effort. During the game, Ruiz set a YSU freshman record for rushing yards in a season. Through nine games, Ruiz has 906 yards on 140 carries. He has scored 14 rushing touchdowns this year, a YSU freshman best.
