RCW: Inside Football 3.9

Get a quick look inside your favorite Kansas Jayhawk programs each week with Rock Chalk Weekly’s Inside Sports pages. Notable statistics, quick hits and the top social media posts get every Jayhawk fan up-to-speed and ready for another week of thrilling competition.

Number BY THE NUMBERS
Kansas senior safety Fish Smithson is one of 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award. To be considered for the CLASS award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I FBS senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. Smithson, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, is the heart and soul of the Jayhawk defense as he leads the Jayhawks in tackles with 32 stops on the season. Smithson ranks among the Big 12 Conference leaders with two interceptions and four pass breakups. A two-time team captain and Academic All-Big 12 honoree, he led the NCAA in solo tackles in 2015 with 7.9 per game, on his way to picking up All-Big 12 Second Team accolades. In addition to his standout performances on the field and in the classroom, Smithson is a regular when it comes to community service activities.

UPCOMING HOME GAMES
Tickets Oklahoma State (Oct. 22)
Tickets Iowa State (Nov. 12)

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Notes QUICK HITS

• Sophomore defensive end Dorance Armstrong Jr., extended his streak to four-straight games recording at least one sack after collecting one sack for a loss of eight yards at Baylor. Armstrong leads the Big 12 and ranks ninth nationally averaging 1.0 sack per game. His eight tackles-for-loss on the season rank him second in the Big 12 and 32^nd in the NCAA.
• Sophomore wide receiver Steven Sims Jr., leads KU with 453 receiving yards at the halfway point of the 2016 season. Sims now has 802 career receiving yards after collecting 349 yards through the air as a true freshman in 2015. Sims is on pace to be KU’s first 1,000-yard receiving since 2009 when Dezmon Briscoe finished the year with 1,337 receiving yards.
• On his first punt of the game at Baylor, junior Cole Moos booted the ball a career-long 82 yards – tied for the fifth-longest in Kansas history. That punt also marked the longest by a Jayhawk since Curtis Ansel kicked one 82 yards at UNLV in 2002 (Sept. 7). Moos finished the day with a 50.4 yard average on eight punts – the first 50-plus game average since Trevor Pardula averaged 51.8 yards on eight punts at Duke in 2014 (Sept. 4).