Mitchell was selected the Special Teams Player of the Week while Porter earned Offensive Player-of-the-Week honors following the Hilltoppers’ 35-14 victory over the Golden Panthers. Five Toppers have been recognized by the league over the last two weeks.
A 5-foot-8, 180-pound strong safety from Indianapolis, Mitchell set up the game-winning score with a 38-yard kick return to start the second half, then blocked a field-goal attempt on the first play of the fourth quarter with the Hilltoppers holding on to a seven-point advantage. The junior helped set the stage for the blocked kick with a 4-yard tackle for loss on 1st-and-goal from the WKU-3 and a pass defensed one snap later, as he ended the day with eight tackles (seven unassisted).
It’s the second time in as many years the Mitchell has been honored following WKU’s regular-season finale — he was the Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 15 last fall after the Hilltoppers defeated Youngstown State on the road.
Porter led the Hilltoppers at FIU with a career-best 213 yards and school-record-tying four touchdowns. He recorded all three second-half scores by either team, giving Western the lead for good with a 5-yard run to cap the opening possession of the third quarter while adding touchdown runs of 67 and 46 yards in the final period to put the game away. Porter — who also had a 9-yard reception to account for 222 of WKU’s 500 total yards from scrimmage — averaged 8.9 yards per attempt.
The 5-foot-9, 180-pound sophomore from Germantown, Md., is the second straight Topper to earn Offensive-Player-of-the-Week accolades — Lerron Moore was selected a week ago — and the third different Western running back in as many weeks to post a career-best rushing total. Moore had 219 yards in a win over Western Illinois Nov. 13, while the previous week saw Stephen Willis collect a career-best 178 yards in a victory at Southwest Missouri State.
