ACC announces football players of the week

Louisville’s Lamar Jackson, North Carolina’s Lucas Crowley and Pitt’s Quadree Henderson have each earned Atlantic Coast Conference Football Player of the Week honors for a league-leading third time this season.

Meanwhile, Florida State quarterback Deondre Francois is one of three players to share ACC Rookie of the Week honors, marking the fourth time he has been recognized by the league.

Jackson was voted the ACC Offensive Back of the Week, while Crowley is the Offensive Lineman of the Week and Henderson was recognized as the top ACC Specialist.

The Cardinals’ Jackson was recognized after accounting for seven touchdowns in Saturday’s 52-7 win at Boston College. The honor comes one day after he was named the Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week for the third time in 2016, marking the sixth time this season that an ACC quarterback has received that award.

The Tar Heels’ Crowley earned his third ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week accolade after playing a key role in UNC’s 48-20 win over Georgia Tech. Pitt’s Henderson was voted the Specialist of the Week after returning yet another kickoff for a touchdown against Miami.

Florida State leads all schools with three student-athletes recognized. Wide receiver Nyqwan Murray was voted the ACC Receiver of the Week following his performance in the Seminoles’ 24-20 win at NC State, while teammate DeMarcus Walker earned Defensive Lineman of the Week in addition to Francois.

Wake Forest had two players honored after clinching bowl eligibility with its win over Virginia as Cameron Glenn is the ACC Defensive Back of the Week and Jessie Bates shared Rookie of the Week honors.

Duke’s Ben Humphreys was voted the ACC Linebacker of the Week, while Miami receiver Ahmmon Richards completed the Rookie of the Week tri-selection.

The ACC weekly honors are the second of the season for Florida State’s Walker and Wake Forest’s Bates, who earlier earned Defensive Back of the Week recognition.

The ACC Football Player of the Week selections are determined by a vote of a 14-member media panel. Selections are announced via Facebook.com/theACC Mondays at noon by the ACC Digital Network.  Be sure to like Facebook.com/theACC and opt in for live alerts to be the first to be notified.

OFFENSIVE BACK – Lamar Jackson, Louisville, QB, So., 6-3, 204, Pompano Beach, Fla.
Jackson accounted for seven touchdowns (four passing and three rushing) in the Cardinals’ win over Boston College. Jackson rushed for 185 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 231 yards and four scores. It was his sixth 100-yard game this year and the 11^th of his career. He became the first Louisville quarterback to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season and the first player to do so since 2010 (14^th player ever, 18^th time overall). Jackson needs four more yards to break ACC record for rushing yards by a quarterback, two more touchdowns to tie ACC mark for TDs in a season and 1 more rushing touchdown to tie the ACC mark for rushing TD by QB.

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN – Lucas Crowley, North Carolina, C, 6-3, 290, Ponte Vedra, Fla.
Crowley led an offensive line that helped pave the way for North Carolina to rush for a season-high 283 yards and post a season-high 636 total yards of offense in Saturday’s 48-20 win over Coastal Division opponent Georgia Tech. Crowley graded out at 91 percent, had nine knockdown blocks and did not allow a hit on the quarterback in the Tar Heels’ victory

RECEIVER – Nyqwan Murray, Florida State, WR, So., 5-11, 176, Orlando, Fla.
Murray posted career highs in catches (nine) and receiving yards (153) while leading the Seminoles to a 24-20 comeback victory on the road at NC State. Murray had a 37-yard catch on the game-winning drive to set up the go-ahead.

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN – DeMarcus Walker, Florida State, DE, Sr., 6-4, 280, Jacksonville, Fla.
Walker registered two sacks and 10 tackles, while playing all 81 snaps for which the Seminoles’ defense was on the field in the win at NC State. The senior defensive end leads the nation with 10.5 sacks. Walker’s second sack forced a punt in the fourth quarter that gave Florida State the ball for the game-winning drive in the 24-20 victory.

LINEBACKER – Ben Humphreys, Duke, LB, So., 6-2, 215, Newport Beach, Calif.
Humphreys recorded a career-high 16 total tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss in the Blue Devils’ 24-21 loss No. 23 Virginia Tech. He led a Duke defense that limited the Hokies to 12.2 points below their average entering the game. He helped Duke hold the Virginia Tech passing game to just 192 yards – 66.5 yards below its average entering the game – and zero passing touchdowns after the Hokies entered the game ranked third among ACC teams with 22.

DEFENSIVE BACK – Cameron Glenn, Wake Forest, DB, So.-r, 6-1, 200, Stone Mountain, Ga.
Glenn had four tackles, a fumble recovery and an interception that set up a score in Wake Forest’s 27-20 win over Virginia.  With Virginia attempting to convert a fourth-and-1 from the Wake Forest 38 in the second quarter, Glenn recovered a fumble that the Deacons were able to convert into a touchdown just before the half.  In the fourth quarter with Wake Forest trailing 20-17, Glenn intercepted a pass and returned it 41 yards to the Virginia 11, setting up a 36-yard field goal to tie the game.

SPECIALIST – Quadree Henderson, Pitt, KR, So., 5-9, 180, Wilmington, Del.
On his first opportunity to touch the ball Saturday, Henderson took a Miami kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. He leads the nation with a school-record three kickoff return touchdowns this year and has four over his last 10 games (including two 100-yard returns). Henderson also leads the country in kickoff return average (33.8) and is second in combined kick return yards (872). Henderson compiled a game-high 176 all-purpose yards against the Hurricanes, including one punt return for 17 yards

TRI-ROOKIE – Deondre Francois, Florida State, Fr.-r, QB, 6-2, 205, Orlando, Fla.
Francois led Florida State to 10-point comeback victory versus NC State by throwing for 330 yards and the game-winning score on 22-of-38 attempts. Francois completed 15 of 22 passes for 228 yards in the second half. On the game-winning drive, the Seminoles started at their own 17-yard line trailing 20-17 with 4:37 left. The redshirt freshman completed passes of 27 yards, 37 yards and the game-winning 19-yard TD toss to Travis Rudolph to give Florida State a 24-20 victory on the road.

TRI-ROOKIE – Ahmmon Richards, Miami, Fr., WR, 6-1, 192, Wellington, Fla.
Richards posted a pair of career highs in the Hurricanes’ 51-28 win over Pittsburgh as he caught eight passes for 144 yards. His 144 yards broke his own freshman record, which he set earlier this year against Appalachian State. His 144 receiving yards were a game-high.

TRI-ROOKIE – Jessie Bates, Wake Forest, Fr.-r, SS, 6-2, 200, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Bates had four tackles (three solos), an interception, a pass break-up and a quarterback hurry in the win over Virginia.  Bates delivered the key play, intercepting a pass and returning it 39 yards for the winning touchdown with 6:47 to play in the game.  Just minutes earlier, Bates had broken up a pass that was intercepted by Cameron Glenn and returned to the Virginia 11 that set up the game-tying field goal.