SAN RAMON, Calif. -- San Diego State’s Jaylon Hawkins (Argyle, Texas) has been named the Pac-12 Conference Special Teams Player of the Week, the league announced Monday. It is the second consecutive week the redshirt freshman has won the award and the third time this season.
The Pac-12 Player-of-the-Week awards are voted on by the league’s media.
Hawkins returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown in the Aztecs’ loss at Oregon State on Saturday. It was his second straight game with a kick return touchdown and third of the season in six games. Hawkins became the first SDSU player since at least the 1996 season (and likely program history) with a kick return touchdown in consecutive games, the first FBS player to accomplish the feat since Kentucky’s Barion Brown in 2023 (Nov. 25 and Dec. 29) and the fifth player in FBS play since 2020. Hawkins also had a 43-yard catch and a 13-yard kick return, leading San Diego State with 153 all-purpose yards.
On the season, Hawkins has returned 14 kickoffs for 543 yards (38.8 avg.) and three touchdowns. Hawkins’ three kickoff return touchdowns this year are already tied with Rashaad Penny (2025) for the most in San Diego State single-season history and are the most in a season in FBS play since Kentucky’s Barion Brown had three in 2023 and match the most in FBS play since Marcus Green (Louisiana-Monroe) and Tony Pollard (Memphis) each had four in the 2017 season. Hawkins has three career kickoff return touchdowns in just 10 career games and only six as a kick returner. The three career kick return scores are already tied for the second most in SDSU program history (also Jordan Byrd, Juwan Washington and Colin Lockett), four behind Penny’s NCAA FBS-record tying seven set from 2014-17.
Hawkins leads the FBS in kick return average (38.8), kick return touchdowns (3) and total kick return yards (543), and is second in combined kick/punt return yards (543, 1st in Pac-12) and tied for third in total kick returns (14, 1st in Pac-12). He’s also fifth in the Pac-12 in all-purpose yards (617, 36th in FBS) and all-purpose yards per game (102.83, 48th in FBS), and tied for sixth in total touchdowns (4). Hawkins has scored a touchdown on four of the 20 times he has touched the ball this season.
San Diego State plays host to Fresno State at 7:30 p.m. PT Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium
Jaylon Hawkins Named Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week for a Third Time
Hawkins wins second straight weekly award and third of the season after returning a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown on Saturday.
