Penn football sees not one, but two players take home weekly honors

Two seems to be a special number for Penn football these days.

After defeating Lehigh 65-47 for its second win of the season, Penn saw not just one, but two of its players win conference-wide recognition. Sophomore running back Karekin Brooks was named Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week and junior linebacker Nick Miller was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week. 

Few should be surprised that Brooks received this honor after he turned in one of the most dominant and memorable performances in Penn football history. The Georgia native ran for 268 yards — good for the second most rushing yards in school history — and found the end zone three times on the ground. Brooks recorded a fourth touchdown when he threw one in on the first passing attempt of his college career.

What made Brooks’ performance even more impressive was that he was only one errant block away from breaking Penn’s rushing record and zooming past the 300-yard barrier. Late in the 4th quarter, Brooks exploded for a 61-yard touchdown, only to see it called back after one of his teammates was flagged for holding on the other side of the field. 

On the other side of the ball, Miller was similarly dominant. From the very beginning, Lehigh simply had no answer for the 2016 second-team All-Ivy linebacker. On the Mountain Hawks’ first drive of the game, Miller recorded a strip sack before managing to find the ball as well for his second straight game with a fumble recovery.

As if that wasn’t enough, Miller intercepted a Lehigh pass in the second quarter. Both of his takeaways resulted in Red and Blue touchdowns to help Penn rack up the most points it has scored in over 70 years. By the game’s end, Miller led all players with 10 total tackles.

It was only one game, but if Brooks and Miller continue to play anything like this, expect to start seeing them take home a lot more of these awards.