Maher, Santos Earn Big Ten Weekly Honors

Senior Brett Maher and redshirt freshman David Santos were each honored by the Big Ten Conference on Monday following outstanding performances in Nebraska's 23-9 win over 23rd-ranked Michigan. Maher was named Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week, while Santos was co-freshman of the week.

Against the Wolverines, Maher made all three of his field goal attempts, with each make coming in the third quarter when Nebraska turned a one-point halftime lead into a seven-point lead. His second field was a 51-yarder, his second field goal longer than 50 yards this season. Maher also punted four times for an average of 42.2 yards per punt. Two of his four punts were downed inside the Michigan 20. The weekly honor was the second of the season for the 2011 Big Ten Punter and Place-Kicker of the Year, and Maher's fifth career award, tying for the most special teams weekly honors in conference history.

A native of Spring, Texas, Santos was honored following a breakout performance against Michigan. The 6-0 linebacker entered Saturday's game with six career tackles in six games. But against the Wolverines, Santos topped that total with 10 tackles, while adding his second career tackle for loss. His six solo tackles were a game high and his 10 total tackles tied for game-high honors while leading Nebraska. The weekly honor was the first of Santos' career.

Santos shared freshman-of-the-week honors with Minnesota quarterback Phillip Nelson, while Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter was the offensive player of the week and Minnesota cornerback Michael Carter and Ohio State linebacker Ryan Shazier shared defensive player-of-the-week honors.