Sports Network Names Purvis National Special Teams Player of the Week
October 31, 2011 | Football
SOUTHAMPTON, Pa. - Gardner-Webb punter Graham Purvis earned FCS National Special Teams Player of the Week honors from The Sports Network Monday, following a record-setting performance.
Purvis (Shallotte, N.C. / West Brunswick HS) set a new Big South Conference record with 497 yards on 11 punts in Gardner-Webb's 14-7 win over Charleston Southern, swinging field position in GWU's favor several times with booming kicks.
The 5-foot-11, 165-pound redshirt senior had three kicks longer than 50 yards, including a school and Big South-record 85-yarder late in the fourth quarter with his team clinging to a 14-7 lead. Punting from his own 15-yard line, Purvis launched a high punt over the Buccaneers' return man and - after hitting inside the 10 - trickled over the goal line for a touchback just out of reach of the GWU coverage team. The kick forced CSU to cover 80 yards for a potential tying score, which the Gardner-Webb defense did not allow.
The 85-yard bomb broke the previous Gardner-Webb record of 79 yards, set in 1973 by Rich Chapman vs. Guilford.
Purvis averaged 45.2 yards per punt on the afternoon, pinning CSU inside its own 10-yard line once. That kick, a 67-yarder near the end of the first half, forced the Buccaneers to take a knee and head in the locker room with the game tied, 7-7. The 67-yard punt was the sixth longest in Big South history.
Purvis, who led the Big South in punting average last season, is averaging 36.6 yards per punt in eight games this season. He has pinned 10 punts inside the opponents' 20-yard line, forced 16 fair catches and boomed seven punts of 50 yards or better - including four in the past two weeks.
Gardner-Webb (3-5, 2-2 Big South) hosts Virginia State on Thursday, November 3, at 6:00 pm in Ernest W. Spangler Stadium.
