Rhodes College senior JaVon Cooper has garnered SAA football Special Teams Player of the Week honors as announced by the Southern Athletic Association on September 27, 2021. In the team's third week of games, Cooper has now garnered the honor twice this season. 

Cooper totaled a career-high 233 all-purpose yards in Rhodes' 47-7 victory over Westminster College (MO) this past weekend. Of those, 191 yards came on returns including 164 yards on six punt returns.

After scoring the first touchdown of the game on a one-yard run, Cooper's longest return, a 44-yard punt return, set up the Lynx for a 13-0 advantage on their following drive. Cooper averaged over 27 yards on each punt return in the game. He also returned a kickoff for 27 yards. In addition to his return yardage, Cooper made a seven-yard reception and totaled 35 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the win, including an 11 yard rushing TD to give Rhodes a 27-0 lead in the third quarter.

With the win, Rhodes snapped a 10-game losing streak and totaled 470 yards of total offense. Recording 47 points is the most points scored for the Lynx since October of 2016 and is the fourth highest points scored during Rhodes' 10 years in the SAA. It's also the most yardage totaled for the Lynx since the 2017 season.

The Lynx return to Crain Field this weekend when they host Millsaps for Homecoming. The October 2nd kickoff is slated for 2 p.m.