ATLANTA – The season may have ended for the Millsaps football program, but a pair of Majors were honored for their contributions in the season finale. Freshman kicker Ethan Klapatch was named the SAA Special Teams Player of the Week and junior inside linebacker Josh Smith was dubbed SAA Defensive Player of the Week, the conference announced on Monday.

Klapatch sent two kickoffs 110 yards and totaled seven punts for 254 yards, averaging 36.3 yards a kick. He produced one kickoff to reach inside the 20-yard line with a long of 56 yards on Saturday.

The Metairie, La., native totaled 1,601 net kickoff yards this season on 32 attempts, averaging 50 yards a kick. Klapatch also booted 58 punts a total of 2,265 yards, which both are third most in the SAA. Additionally, 12 of the punts landed inside the 20-yard line.

He also sits tied atop the SAA with nine punts of at least 50 yards. Klapatch also added a PAT against Hendrix on Nov. 6.

Smith tallied a career- and game-high 12 tackles against No. 22 Birmingham-Southern on Saturday. He led the Majors with 71 tackles in 10 games, which ranks fifth in the SAA.

Monday marked the third and fourth times Millsaps was recognized with football Player of the Week honors. Junior quarterback Kaleb Thompson earned SAA Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 4, while kicker Cameron Beall secured SAA Special Teams Player of the Week on Nov. 1.


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