MANHATTAN, Kan. – For the second-consecutive week, Kansas State had a pair of players earn weekly honors as linebacker Khalid Duke was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week and quarterback Adrian Martinez was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week following the Wildcats’ win over Texas Tech, the conference office announced Monday.
It is the first time Duke has earned a weekly Big 12 honor, while it is the second time in as many weeks that Martinez has picked up an accolade from the conference, as he was the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week following the Wildcats’ win at No. 6 Oklahoma. The Wildcats are up to five weekly conference honors this season as Kobe Savage was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week after the Oklahoma game and Phillip Brooks was the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week earlier this season after K-State’s win over Missouri.
Duke finished the game against the Red Raiders with eight tackles – the second most on the team – and a career-high 3.0 sacks. His sack total was tied for the fourth most in a game in school history. He teamed with Felix Anudike-Uzomah to give the Wildcats’ two players with 3.0 sacks in the same game for the first time in school history. Duke has started all five games this season and enters the week tied for seventh in the Big 12 in sacks. A product of Atlanta, Georgia, Duke is coming off a 2021 campaign in which he had sacks in the first two contests before suffering a season-ending injury in week three.
Martinez accounted for 287 yards and four touchdowns against Texas Tech, which included a banner day on the ground as he rushed for a career-high 171 yards and three scores. A native of Fresno, California, Martinez posted the fifth most rushing yards by a K-State quarterback in a game in school history and the most by any quarterback in the nation this season. He and running back Deuce Vaughn have each carded 100-yard rushing games in the last two contests, the first time in school history the Wildcats had two 100-yard rushers in consecutive games.
After going for 148 yards and four touchdowns the week prior in K-State’s win at Oklahoma, Martinez is just the third Power 5 quarterback in the last 15 years to total 300 rushing yards and seven scores on the ground in a two-game span, joining Louisville’s Lamar Jackson (2016) and Auburn’s Cam Newton (2010).
Ranked 20th in both the Associated Press Top 25 and AFCA Coaches Poll, K-State travels to Ames, Iowa, to take on Iowa State this Saturday. The game kicks off at 6:30 p.m., and will be televised by ESPNU.