Kansas defensive end Lonnie Phelps Jr. named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week

By Matt Tait     Sep 5, 2022

Nick Krug
Kansas defensive end Lonnie Phelps (47) closes in on Tennessee Tech running back David Gist (21) with Kansas linebacker Craig Young (15) and Kansas defensive lineman Caleb Taylor (53) during the first quarter on Friday, Sept. 2, 2022 at Memorial Stadium.

It’s been nearly four years since the Kansas football program had a player earn Big 12 Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors.

And it took transfer defensive end Lonnie Phelps Jr. just one week to end that skid.

The Big 12 on Monday announced that Phelps had earned the defensive honor for Week 1. Phelps finished KU’s 56-10 win over Tennessee Tech with seven tackles, three sacks and four tackles for loss.

That performance marked the most sacks in a single game for a Jayhawk since 2016 and the most tackles for loss in a single game since 2017. Phelps became the first KU player to win the Big 12 weekly honor since Joe Dineen in November of 2018. He is the first KU defensive end to win the honor since Dorance Armstrong Jr. won it in 2016.

A transfer from Miami (Ohio), Phelps led a KU defense that held Tennessee Tech to 97 passing yards and 190 yards of total offense. According to Pro Football Focus, Phelps received a Week 1 grade of 96.4, which was the highest grade for a defensive end in the entire country.

In addition to his big numbers, Phelps led with some big personality, too, often flashing a demonstrative celebration after his biggest tackles.

Phelps, who said after the game that while some of his current and former teammates razzed him not to do his signature celebration of grabbing his helmet, arching his back and screaming into the air after a big tackle, he couldn’t help himself.

“My role for that is huge because just a person’s juice can actually motivate a whole team,” Phelps said after the win. “It was a lot of fun.”

As for the words associated with his screaming, Phelps laughed when asked to share those.

“I’m just yelling,” he said. “I ain’t saying no words. When I get a sack, I just go crazy.”

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.