COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Football standout sophomore TE Albert Okwuegbunam (Springfield, Ill.) is the Mackey Award Tight End of the Week, announced Wednesday by the John Mackey Award. This marks the first time that he has earned this distinction in his career.

Last Saturday against Memphis, Okwuegbunam caught six passes for a career-high 159 yards and three touchdowns to help lead the way in Mizzou’s 65-33 win over Memphis which broke a three-game losing streak for the Tigers. His touchdowns came from 58 yards out, 47 yards out and 23 yards out, and they were all big momentum plays, as each one came following a Memphis score.

His first TD was arguably the biggest momentum play of the game, as he faked a run block and snuck past the crashing linebackers to get free down the seam for his 58-yard catch-and-run score with 8:47 left in the second quarter that gave Mizzou a 27-17 lead. Memphis had scored 17-straight points before that, but his score erased that momentum and was the first of three unanswered TDs by Mizzou that took the lead to 41-17.

His second score, from 47 yards out, came on a similar play with just 1:07 before halftime and it gave Mizzou a 48-20 lead which they would take into the locker room. His last score answered a Memphis TD in the third quarter and a 55-27 lead with 4:26 left in the quarter.

He is the first tight end in the nation with a three-touchdown day in 2018, and the big game was reminiscent of his freshman season when he had four multi-touchdown games, and led all Power Five tight ends with 11 touchdowns in 2017. Additionally, his 159-yard game is the most among tight ends for all FBS schools, through games of Oct. 20.

The three-TD performance gives Okwuegbunam five career games scoring multiple TDs, tying the most ever by a Mizzou TE. 2008 Mackey Award Winner Chase Coffman had five in his career as well, but did not record his fifth such game until his 51st career game as senior. Okwuegbunam has done it in just 20 games.

Through just 20 games, Okwuegbunam is already eighth on Mizzou’s career TD list with 16 in his 20 games as a Tiger.

— Mizzou Athletics —