Texas Tech's Will Karoll Claims Back-to-Back Big 12 Weekly Honors
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LUBBOCK — For the third week in a row, Texas Tech picked up the win on the field, and one Red Raider saw his contributions to that most recent victory recognized once again by the Big 12.
Texas Tech punter Will Karoll locked down his second straight Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week title after an unsung role in the thrilling 28-26 win for the Red Raiders over No. 22 Houston.
Karoll sent the ball away only three times for Texas Tech, but those punts help the Red Raiders pin the Cougars deep on pivotal possessions.
His monster boots went for whopping distances of 60, 61 and 55 for an average of nearly 59 yards per punt to completely flip the field each time.
READ MORE: 'Really Going to Test Us!' Texas Tech's Joey McGuire on Sam Houston
The aforementioned 55-yarder was later downed by Houston at its own 12-yard line on its final drive of the game.
While the Cougars did eventually make it to the end zone, Karoll's efforts made them truly work for the chance to send things into overtime.
That three-punt average was the highest for any punter in the FBS this season thus far and reached a mark not seen in the Big 12 since 2022.
In any tight contest, field position is a crucial piece in the eventual outcome and Texas Tech was able to claim the upper hand in that category, thanks to the leg of Karoll.
Outside of these efforts against Houston, Karoll obviously performed well in the matchup with Oregon State after earning his first conference accolade for his performance.
However, these two weekly awards do not highlight the full impact Karoll has had for the Red Raiders this year.
READ MORE: Texas Tech Secondary Coming Together Ahead of Week 4 Challenge
Entering week four, Texas Tech is atop the Big 12 in punt yards at 588 and is slightly behind Baylor for the top spot in average yards per punt at 49 compared to about 51 for the Bears.
Karoll also leads the Big 12 in punts over 50 yards, with six sailing across the mark.
With eyes on a lot of various positions that are all expected to play a big role for Texas Tech, Karoll is quietly emerging as one of the most important Red Raiders this season.
Head coach Joey McGuire is undoubtedly looking for quarterback Will Hammond and the offense to light up the scoreboard against Sam Houston this weekend.
But he can rest assured knowing that whenever the Red Raiders need to punt, they have one of the best weapons in Karoll ready to come up clutch in these scenarios.
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