Sept. 30, 2002
Abney Named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week: Kentucky kick returner Derek Abney has been named Southeastern Conference Special Teams Player of the Week for his NCAA- and SEC-record-tying performance in Saturday’s game at Florida.
Abney returned both a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown against the Gators, becoming the seventh player in NCAA history to accomplish both feats in the same game. Abney returned four kickoffs for 154 yards, including a 100-yard TD return in the third quarter. He became the third Wildcat in school history with a 100-yard return (also Kurt Johnson at Georgia in 1989 and Craig Yeast at Florida in 1998), tying the SEC record for longest kickoff return. Abney had four punt returns for 69 yards, highlighted by his 49-yard scoring jaunt in the fourth quarter.
Abney also caught three passes for 19 yards and one touchdown. All totaled, he accumulated 242 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns.
This is the second time this season that a Wildcat has won the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week award. Kicker Taylor Begley took home the honor in the first week of the season when he connected on a Governor’s Cup-record three field goals in the win over Louisville.
A Wildcat has won a player-of-the-week honor in four of the first five games of the season. Here is the list:
Kicker Taylor Begley at Louisville: SEC Special Teams POW by the league office
QB Jared Lorenzen vs. UTEP: SEC Offensive POW by the league office; SEC POW by collegefootballnews.com
RB Artose Pinner vs. Indiana: SEC POW by The Southeastern Post magazine
KOR/PR Derek Abney at Florida: SEC Special Teams POW by the league office
Kentucky-South Carolina Selected by espn2: The South Carolina at Kentucky game on Oct. 12 has been selected for live national cablecast by espn2. Game time will be 6:30 p.m. EDT.
This will be Kentucky’s third national television appearance of the season. The season-opening win at Louisville was televised by espn2 and last Saturday’s game at Florida was shown by CBS. Since 1997, Kentucky has averaged 6.4 live national or regional television appearances per year.
– UK –
