Penn State football: KJ Hamler picks up B1G Player of the Week honors

Penn State football wide receiver KJ Hamler acquires Big Ten Player of the Week honors for his Week 8 performance.

For the entire first half of the season, Penn State football head coach James Franklin has been hammering down the idea of getting wide receiver, KJ Hamler, the ball more. As Hamler has been pretty solid up until this past weekend, nobody within the Nittany Lions locker room was fully satisfied with Hamler’s production to date.

No, that’s not to say that Hamler has been underwhelming. That narrative couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s more about the fact that Hamler is so good, that even just doing good, it seems like it may not be enough. Sure, Hamler can acquire 100-yard games — but he wants 200. Hamler can score a touchdown — but he wants multiple. Do you see where I’m going with this?

Everybody at Penn State knows Hamler is capable of more, so they want to get the ball in their best player’s hands. This past weekend against Michigan, the team tried to do that once again, and it worked enough to get the job done. Hamler might not have reached his yardage expectations, but his multiple scores were crucial to the team’s victory. For that, Hamler was honored with a weekly award coming from the Big Ten Conference.

The B1G Announcement

On Saturday, KJ Hamler led the Nittany Lions in receiving. With six catches for 108 yards, Hamler managed to reach the end zone twice, adding onto the Lions final score of 28-21. While his two scores were obviously critical, Hamler’s one of two carries became the game-sealing first down in the fourth quarter on a very crucial third down.

At that moment, PSU had to give the ball to their best player, and they did just that. Hamler risked his body on the play, but it was worth it in the end. Now, he picks up a conference win with his team, along with weekly honors.