Venric Mark's 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown last Saturday is the eighth-longest kick return in school history.Venric Mark's 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown last Saturday is the eighth-longest kick return in school history.

Venric Mark Named Big Ten Special Teams, Freshman Player of the Week

Nov. 29, 2010

EVANSTON, Ill. -- True freshman Venric Mark (Tomball, Texas/St. Pius X) has been named the Big Ten Special Teams and Freshman co-Player of the Week after his performance returning kicks last weekend.

Mark returned nine kickoffs to match the Big Ten single-game record, compiling 273 kickoff return yards to establish a Northwestern single-game record and finish 10 yards shy of the conference's single-game standard. Included in that total was a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, the Wildcats' first since a Stephen Simmons' 99-yard return against Ohio State in 2007.

Mark also earned eight punt return yards to finish with 281 all-purpose yards in the game, breaking the Northwestern freshman record of 253 all-purpose yards set by Tyrell Sutton against Wisconsin in 2005. He is Northwestern's first Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week since place-kicker Stefan Demos earned the award three times in 2009. Mark is NU's first Big Ten Freshman of the Week, an award in its inaugural season of existence.

Mark shares both the Special Teams and Freshman honors this week with Indiana kicker Mitch Ewald.

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