Texas State redshirt junior safety Tory Spears (left) was named Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week, while redshirt junior kicker Seth Keller was named Special Teams Player of the Week. Photo courtesy of Texas State Athletics
Bobcats’ Spears, Keller receive player of the week awards after win over Appalachian State
Texas State’s Tory Spears and Seth Keller received Sun Belt Player of the Week awards following the Bobcats’ 36-24 win over Appalachian State.
Spears was named Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week, while Keller received the conference’s Special Teams Player of the Week accolade.
Spears returned an interception for a 94-yard touchdown and tallied a career-high 12 tackles against the Mountaineers. He became the first player at the Football Bowl Subdivision level to have 12-plus tackles and an interception returned for a touchdown in a game since September 2021 (Chad Muma, Wyoming, vs. Ball State) and first Sun Belt player to do that since 2014. He is the first player to ever turn the feat in Texas State’s FBS history.
The pick-six by Spears in the third quarter came on a 4th down and 4 at the Texas State 12-yard line, clipping App State’s opening drive in the second half of what was then a 21-point game. It was the redshirt junior’s first career interception and longest interception returned for a touchdown by a Bobcat since 2020. Meanwhile, his 12 tackles were the most by a Texas State defensive back since November 2020.
A Houston, Texas native, Spears became the first Bobcat to be named Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week since Sione Tupou picked up the honor nearly a year ago on Oct. 11, 2021.
Keller garnered his second career player of the week award after going 3-for-3 on field goals and 3-for-3 on extra points. The three field goals made by the redshirt junior were a season-high and moved him into a tie for fourth place on Texas State’s all-time career field goals made list with 29. It was his third career game of three-plus field goals.
The three PATs also made Keller responsible for 12 of Texas State’s 36 points in the win and helped the Bobcats score on six of their 10 drives.
Keller is the first Texas State specialist to earn the conference’s player of the week since Jeremiah Haydel picked up the honor as a kick returner on Nov. 16, 2020. The Colleyville native earned his first career weekly honor on Nov. 2, 2020.
This marks the first time since 2015 that a pair of Bobcats won conference player of the week awards in the same week. The last time was Robert Lowe (offensive) and Lumi Kaba (special teams) on Oct. 26, 2015.
