Mizzou Football redshirt freshman DL Harold Brantley (Hershey, Pa.) has been named the Southeastern Conference’s Special Teams Player of the Week, the league office announced on Monday.
Brantley had two huge plays that impacted the outcome of Mizzou’s 24-10 road win at No. 24 Ole Miss (Nov. 23), as he first blocked a Rebel field goal attempt in second quarter action to snuff out a scoring threat. Mizzou led 7-0 at the time, and Ole Miss drove to the Tiger 1-yardline before being forced to settle for a 23-yard try. Brantley got a big push and blocked the kick to give Mizzou back the ball with its lead intact. Brantley was not originally credited with the block, but a video review determined he was Tiger that denied the Rebel attempt.
The next big play for Brantley came in the third quarter after Ole Miss scored on its opening possession of the second half to cut the Tigers’ lead to 17-10. Mizzou’s offense went 3-and-out, but on 4th-and-2 from the Mizzou 20-yardline it was Brantley’s number that was called on a fake punt. Serving as one of the shield protectors for the punt, Brantley took the direct snap and raced around to the left edge to daylight. He made a nice move to shake one potential tackler near the first down line, and raced 26 yards to the Tiger 46-yardline to squelch the Ole Miss momentum.
Brantley’s recognition, the first of his Tiger career, is the 11th SEC honor for a Mizzou player in 2013, continuing to reset Mizzou’s best for conference honors in a season. Head coach Gary Pinkel’s 2007 squad brought home a total of eight individual honors.
Last season, Mizzou players were recognized as Special Teams Player of the Week three times. Junior TB Marcus Murphy (DeSoto, Texas) earned the honor twice after Mizzou’s wins vs. Southeast Louisiana (Sept. 1, 2012) and at UCF (Sept. 29, 2012). Sophomore PK Andrew Baggett (Lee’s Summit, Mo.) brought home the honor after his performance in the four-overtime win at Tennessee (Nov. 10, 2012).
No. 5 Mizzou (10-1, 6-1) heads into an exciting, sold-out game vs. No. 19 Texas A&M at Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field to end the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 30. The contest will kick off at 6:45 p.m. on ESPN
— MU Sports Information —