Malcolm Rodriguez, LD Brown Earn Big 12 Weekly Honors

STILLWATER — A pair of Pokes took home conference honors for their performances in Week 2.

Malcolm Rodriguez was named a co-Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, and LD Brown won the league’s Special Teams Player of the Week. The tandem was integral in Oklahoma State’s 28-23 victory against Tulsa on Saturday.

Rodriguez led the Cowboys with 13 total tackles, including eight solo stops and 0.5 tackles for loss. On the year, Rodriguez has 29 total tackles, which leads the FBS. The next closest defender has 25.

“We work really well together,” OSU defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said after the game. “He’s almost like a son to me. He knows how I think, he knows the scheme and I do my best to put him in positions where he can see the play and react because he’s a guy that gets people on the ground.”

Brown housed a 98-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter to retake the lead. It was OSU’s first kickoff return (aside from the onside return last season) since 2014. It was the seventh-longest in program history.

Brown had two kick returns for 116 yards and the score in Saturday’s game.

“The field just opened,” Brown said. “I just hit the hole after that. Everybody got the block. Kanion Williams had the touchdown block. Just make a kicker miss. If I got tackled by the kicker, everybody was not gonna let me hear the end of that.”