BATON ROUGE — Trindon Holliday may have only touched the ball one time against Arkansas but it was enough to earn the LSU freshman Southeastern Conference Special Teams Player of the Week honors, the league office announced on Monday.
Holliday, a 5-foot-5, 159-pound native of Zachary, La., returned a kickoff 92-yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to lead the Tigers to a 31-26 upset over No. 5 Arkansas last Friday in Little Rock.
Holliday’s return came less than a minute after Arkansas cut the Tigers lead to 24-19 on an 80-yard run by Darren McFadden. Holliday’s touchdown proved to be the winning points for the Tigers as it gave LSU a 31-19 lead with 10:14 to play in the contest.
The kickoff return was the only time that Holliday touched the football on Friday. His kickoff return for a TD was the first by an LSU player since the 1998 season when Kevin Faulk went 88-yards for a score against Notre Dame.
The honor is the first of Holliday’s career and its marks the ninth time this year that an LSU player has been named as one of the SEC’s players of the week.
Other honors handed out by the league office on Monday include: Florida quarterback Chris Leak and Arkansas’ McFadden as co-offensive players of the week; Georgia cornerback Paul Oliver as defensive player of the week; South Carolina offensive tackle Jamon Meredith as offensive lineman of the week; Tennessee defensive tackle Turk McBride as the defensive lineman of the week; and Ole Miss return specialist Marshay Green as the freshman of the week.
The Tigers, now ranked No. 5 in the BCS Standing as well as the Associated Press poll and the USA Today/Coaches poll, will learn of the bowl destination on Sunday night when the pairings are announced on Fox.