Three BYU All-America candidates honored for their play in BYU victory
PROVO, Utah (Nov. 25, 2012) — BYU senior Riley Stephenson was named National Punter of the Week and junior Cody Hoffman earned National Wide Receiver of the Week honors from College Football Performance Awards for their outstanding play in BYU's 50-14 win over New Mexico State on Saturday.
Additionally, BYU senior quarterback James Lark and junior linebacker Kyle Van Noy received honorable mention at their respective positions for their strong contributions in BYU's victory.
Stephenson averaged 53.5 yards on two punts at New Mexico State, including a 58-yard effort that was downed at the 2-yard line. On the year, Stephenson leads the nation with 26 punts longer than 50 yards and is tied for second with 24 points inside the 20-yard line. His 47.31 average on the season ranks No. 2 overall while helping BYU rank second nationally in net punting at 42.15 yards.
Hoffman caught a school-record five touchdown passes in BYU's win to become only the second FBS player this season to accomplish the feat. He totaled a career-high 182 yards on 12 catches to push his season total to 1,134 yards, which ranks No. 16 in the nation. He has seven 100-yard receiving games this year and ranks in the top 10 nationally in receptions (90) and receiving touchdowns (11). He has caught a pass in 31 consecutive games.
Making his first career start, Lark completed 34 of 50 passes for a career-best 384 yards and six touchdowns to lead BYU to victory. His 384 yards and six touchdowns is the most by any BYU quarterback making his first start and his six touchdown passes was just one shy of the BYU record. Lark became the 10th BYU quarterback to throw six scoring passes in a game, joining Gary Sheide, Gifford Nielsen, Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Robbie Bosco, Ty Detmer, Steve Sarkisian and Max Hall.
Van Noy notched a career-best three sacks against New Mexico State with five total tackles to help BYU's No. 3-ranked defense. The play-making outside linebacker now ranks tied for ninth nationally with 11.5 sacks on the year and is tied for 11th with 18.5 tackles for loss.
Stephenson, Hoffman and Van Noy are All-America candidates at their respective positions in 2012.