BATON ROUGE — Two of LSU’s stars from the Southeastern Conference win over Auburn and a record setting return specialist from Louisiana Tech earned the weekly Louisiana Sports Writers Association Player of the Week honors announced on Monday.
Jordan Jefferson, the Tigers quarterback won offensive honors, while linebacker Harry Coleman earned defensive honors. Louisiana Tech junior Phillip Livas was named the special teams’ player of the week.
Jefferson, a sophomore from St. Rose, La., connected on 21-of-31 passes for 242 yards and 2 TDs in LSU’s 31-10 win over Auburn. Jefferson… Set career highs for completions (21), attempts (31) and passing yards (242) in the victory. He also rushed for a first quarter TD in the win and finished with 26 rushing yards on 12 attempts in leading an LSU offense that had its highest number of yards this year with 376.
Coleman recorded nine total tackles, including a pair of sacks and two forced fumbles in the Auburn triumph. He had a total of 2.5 tackles for 18 yards in losses and broke up a pass as LSU limited Auburn to just 193 total yards, its lowest output of the year. Auburn entered the game ranked No. 2 in the SEC in scoring and total offense. Both of Coleman’s forced fumbles led to points ? the first leading to a first quarter touchdown that put LSU up 14-0 and the second to a field goal just before halftime. The senior from Baldwin, La., helped an LSU defense limited the SECs second leading rusher in Ben Tate to just 67 rushing yards.
Although the Bulldogs lost, Livas had the Western Athletic Conference staff checking its records after he became the first WAC player to record a 100-yard kickoff return since 2007 as he returned a Utah State kickoff the distance. With the return, the junior from Houma not only set a career-long return mark, but also set the Louisiana Tech record for most total kick returns for touchdowns. His return marked his sixth career kick return for a touchdown. Livas is currently the only WAC player to return a kickoff for a touchdown this season. He is 11th in the nation in kickoff returns, averaging 30.23 yards per return.