Hamler Claims Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week Honors

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: October 21, 2019

Courtesy of GoPSU Athletics

Sophomore wide receiver also named to the Paul Hornung Award Honor Roll

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Sophomore wide receiver KJ Hamler (Pontiac, Mich.) earned the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week award after his outstanding all-around performance in the win over No. 16 Michigan Saturday night. In addition, Hamler was named to the Paul Hornung Award Honor Roll this week.

This is the second-straight week a Nittany Lion has claimed conference honors with punter Blake Gillikin claiming Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week Oct. 14. Hamler is the first Penn Stat wide out to win weekly accolades since DaeSean Hamilton won the award after the Indiana game in 2017.

The Paul Hornung Award is presented by the Louisville Sports Commission to the most versatile player in major college football. Saquon Barkley won the honor in 2017 and Hamler was a finalist for the honor in 2018.

The Pontiac, Michigan native had six receptions for 108 yards and two touchdowns in the victory against his home-state Wolverines. He also had six rushing yards, 65 kickoff return yards and seven punt return yards for a total of 186 all-purpose yards. The performance was Hamler’s fourth career 100-yard game and second of the season and was his second career game with two receiving scores.

Hamler has had a catch in all 20 games in his career. With the performance, Hamler moved into 20^th place on Penn State’s career receiving yards list with 1,317. He has 11 catches of 20 or more yards, including three grabs of 50 or more yards.

No. 6 Penn State visits Michigan State Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on ABC. The Nittany Lions’ remaining home schedule includes Big Ten games against Indiana (Nov. 15) and Rutgers (Nov. 30 – Senior Day).