After an impressive performance during Cornell’s blowout victory over Brown Saturday, Cornell football sophomore punter Nickolas Null was named Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week, the league announced Monday afternoon.
Tasked with the near-impossible job of replacing former All-American punter Chris Fraser ’17 in 2017, Null — who served as the team’s place kicker last season — has come into his own for the Red. Cornell trails only Columbia in punting average and is second in average return yards allowed, thanks to Null’s contributions.
Null punted five times Saturday for an average net of 44.2 yards and played a key role in Cornell’s field position advantage all game. The Red’s drives started an average of 18 yards better than the Bears.
To make things more interesting, junior kicker Zach Mays left in the second half due to injury, and Null was the next man up. Building on his experience from last season, the Bradenton, Florida native converted on each of his three PATs and booted all three kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.
Null was not the only Cornell player turning heads in the team’s all-around dominant victory. Sophomores Mo Bradford (linebacker) and Harold Coles (running back), as well as juniors Mays and Chris Walker (running back) were also named to the weekly honor roll for their performance Saturday afternoon.
Coles and Walker combined for three rushing touchdowns on the day, while Bradford put together four tackles (three solo, one assisted). Mays was 2-2 on field goals, 1-1 on PATs and handed Brown three touchbacks before departing the game.
Sitting at 2-1 in the league for the first time since 2000, Cornell next travels to Princeton Saturday night to take on the Tigers in a pivotal Ivy matchup.