IRVING, Texas – Baylor football sixth-year senior middle linebacker Matt Jones has been named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, as announced Monday by the conference office.
 
Jones was fantastic in BU's 38-28 win over Oklahoma State on Saturday, recording 12 total tackles, including a career-high 10 solo stops. He made three tackles for loss, including a sack, and forced a timely fumble that held the Cowboys out of the end zone and was recovered on the 1-yard line. The performance marked Jones' fifth double-digit tackle effort of the year, the most by a Bear in a single season since Clay Johnston in 2018.
 
A native of Odessa, Texas, Jones also moved into a tie for seventh place on Baylor's all-time tackles for loss leaderboard with 34.0 career TFLs, matching him with the legendary Mike Singletary. Jones leads the Big 12 with 72 total tackles so far in 2024 and ranks second on the team with three sacks this season.
 
The accolade marks the seventh-consecutive season that Baylor has received a Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honor. This is the second time in the last three seasons that BU has had weekly award winners in back-to-back weeks, joining Richard Reese (Newcomer, Sept. 19) and Bryson Jackson's (Defensive, Sept. 26) 2022 honors. This is the first weekly award of Jones' career.
 
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BAYLOR'S ALL-TIME BIG 12 DEFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:
2001 – Samir Al-Amin, S (Nov. 24)
2004 – Willie Andrews, S (Sept. 27)
2005 – Colin Allred, LB (Nov. 21)
2006 – Dwain Crawford, S (Oct. 2)
2007 – Jordan Lake, FS (Sept. 24)
2008 – Joe Pawelek, LB (Nov. 17)
2009 – Joe Pawelek, LB (Sept. 8)
2010 – Byron Landor, S (Oct. 18)
2010 – Byron Landor, S (Nov. 1)
2011 – Elliot Coffey, LB (Nov. 14)
2011 – Sam Holl, S (Dec. 5)
2012 – Joe Williams, CB (Nov. 19)
2012 – Eddie Lackey, LB (Nov. 26)
2012 – Eddie Lackey, LB (Dec. 3)
2013 – Terrell Burt, S (Sept. 23)
2013 – Eddie Lackey, LB (Oct. 21)
2013 – KJ Morton, CB (Dec. 9)
2014 – Shawn Oakman, DE (Nov. 24)
2015 – Shawn Oakman, DE (Oct. 26)
2015 – Andrew Billings, DT (Nov. 23)
2016 – Orion Stewart, S (Sept. 12)
2016 – Travon Blanchard, S (Sept. 26)
2016 – Ryan Reid, CB (Oct. 17)
2018 – Clay Johnston, LB (Sept. 30)
2019 – Clay Johnston, LB (Sept. 30)
2019 – Terrel Bernard, LB (Oct. 21)
2019 – Terrel Bernard, LB (Nov. 11)
2019 – James Lynch, DE (Nov. 25)
2020 – Terrel Bernard, LB (Oct. 26)
2021 – JT Woods, S (Sept. 13)
2021 – Garmon Randolph, OLB (Sept. 27)
2021 – Terrel Bernard, LB (Nov. 15)
2022 – Bryson Jackson, LB (Sept. 26)
2022 – Gabe Hall, DL (Oct. 31)
2023 – Caden Jenkins, CB (Oct. 2)
2024 – Matt Jones, LB (Oct. 28)