Georgia Tech’s Kyle Kennard named ACC defensive lineman of the week

6 hours ago Following a historic performance in Georgia Tech’s 48-13 win over South Carolina State on Saturday, junior Kyle Kennard has been named the ACC defensive lineman of the week, the league office announced Monday. Kennard had an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in the win over SC State becoming only the second Georgia Tech player since 2000 to pull off the rare trifecta in a single game joining Bruce Jordan-Swilling, who had all three at Virginia in 2017. Kennard’s first-quarter interception and his recovery of his own forced fumble in the third period both set up Georgia Tech touchdowns and led to the Yellow Jackets outscoring State 14-0 in points off turnovers for the game.

“It was actually a play we prepared for all week,” Kennard said of his interception. “We had a play we designed for that all week. It was a screen, and sure enough it opened up, and I saw the quarterback lift his hand off the ball and was like, ‘Is he really about to throw this?’ He threw it.

” In addition to the takeaways, Kennard had five tackles, including a half-tackle for loss, in the win. He received a 93. 9 overall defensive grade from Pro Football Focus.

The ACC Player of the Week award is the first of Kennard’s career. Kennard and the Yellow Jackets (1-1) return to action when they travel to No. 17 Ole Miss (2-0) at 7:30 p.

m. Saturday. .