Utah State senior cornerback Jalen Davis has been named the CBSSports.com National Player of the Week, it was announced on Sunday, following his performance in Utah State’s 40-24 home win against BYU last weekend.
Against the Cougars, Davis intercepted a career-high three passes and returned two of them for touchdowns from 30 and 50 yards, respectively. Davis also had a season-high five tackles to go along with one pass breakup in the game.
Davis was also named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week by College Sports Madness on Sunday.
Those three interceptions for Davis are tied with New Mexico State’s Shamad Lomax for the most in a game at the Football Bowl Subdivision level this year and tied for a Mountain West record as it is the 11th time in conference history a player has had three picks in a game. The last time an FBS player had more than three interceptions in a game was in 2006 when Middle Tennessee’s Damon Nickson had four picks against Louisiana-Lafayette. Furthermore, Davis’ three interceptions are the second most in a game in school history trailing Henry King, who had four picks against Pacific in 1966.
Davis’ two interception returns for touchdowns are a single-game school record and tied with four other players for the most in Mountain West history, not to mention the most at the FBS level this season. In fact, it is just the 18th time in conference history that a team has had two interceptions returned for a touchdown in a game.
Davis is the first FBS player to have three interceptions and return two of them for touchdowns since 2012 when Fresno State’s Phillip Thomas accomplished the feat against Colorado.
Utah State (3-2, 1-0 MW) returns to action this weekend as it hosts Mountain West foe Colorado State (3-2, 1-0 MW) on Saturday, Oct. 7, at 2:30 p.m. The game will be televised regionally on AT&T Sports.
Doug Hoffman is the associate athletic director for Utah State University Athletic Media Relations.