NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State junior middle linebacker Tye Niekamp set a new career high in tackles and helped lead the Redbirds to a big 35-21 road win at No. 15 South Dakota State. For his efforts, Niekamp was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season by the league office on Monday.
Niekamp joins quarterback Beau Brungard of Youngstown State (Offense), placekicker Andrew Lastovka of Youngstown State (Special Teams), running back Carson Fletcher of South Dakota (Newcomer) and offensive lineman Seth Anderson of North Dakota (Offensive Line) as this week's MVFC players of the week.
The Normal, Illinois, native set a career-high with 16 tackles on Saturday, which included nine solo stops against the Jackrabbits. Niekamp was also credited with a forced fumble and a pass breakup in the contest, as the Redbird defense forced three turnovers and tallied five sacks and 10 tackles-for-loss against SDSU. The 16 tackles top his previous high of 14 set twice earlier this season, and Niekamp now has six double-digit tackling efforts on the year with four contests of 13 or more to give him 110 total tackles on the year.
No. 11 ranked Illinois State (8-3, 5-2 MVFC) returns home to host No. 24 Southern Illinois (2-6, 0-4 MVFC) on Saturday for Senior Day, with kickoff set for Noon on Jay and Lori Bergman Field at Hancock Stadium.
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