Landor, Epperson Earn Big 12 Honors
11/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 1, 2010
IRVING, Texas - Baylor's Byron Landor and Derek Epperson both earned Big 12 Conference Football Player of the Week honors, as selected by a panel of media and announced by the conference office Monday.
Landor was named defensive player of the week for the second time in the last three weeks. He was also honored on Oct. 18 after forcing a pair of turnovers in Baylor's 31-25 win at Colorado. With the award, Landor becomes the first player in program history to be named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week twice in the same season.
Epperson was named special teams player of the week for the first time in his career after punting four times for an average of 56.8 yards per punt. He's the first Bear to earn the special teams award since Daniel Sepulveda on Nov. 6, 2006.
Epperson had punts of 65, 64, 51 and 47 yards. He saved his best for last, booting a career-long-tying 65 yarder to force Texas to start its final drive from its own 8-yard line. He moved into second place on Baylor's career list with 48 punts of 50-plus yards, and he's tied for fifth all-time with seven punts of at least 60 yards.
Landor had his second consecutive game of at least 15 tackles. The senior safety had nine solo stops, two pass breakups and a quarterback hurry. With Baylor leading Texas 30-19 in the fourth quarter, Landor made six stops, including four straight, while holding the Longhorns to a field goal on a 15-play drive. Landor has posted double-digit tackles in six of the Bears' last seven games.
The awards mark the third time in program history a pair of Bears has earned Big 12 weekly honors in the same week. Colin Allred (defensive) and Sepulveda (special teams) were the last duo on Nov. 21, 2005, and Willie Andrews (defense) and Braelon Davis (special teams) were the first on Sept. 27, 2004.
Landor joins Andrews as the only Baylor players to earn weekly honors twice in the same season, though Andrews was honored once for defense and once for special teams during the 2004 season.
The awards mark the 21st and 22nd times Baylor players have earned a weekly award from the conference office. Roy Helu Jr. (Nebraska) earned Offensive Player of the Week honors.
No. 22/22 Baylor (7-2, 4-1 Big 12) returns to action at 11:40 a.m CDT Saturday when the Bears travel to Stillwater, Okla. to play No. 19/18 Oklahoma State (7-1, 3-1 Big 12) in their final road game of the season. Baylor then returns home to host Texas A&M and Oklahoma to close out the regular season. For tickets, call the Baylor Athletics Ticket Office at 254-710-1000 or visit www.BaylorBears.com.
