SEC announces Players of the Week following Week 5 of college football

SEC logos on the chains before the game between the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Memphis Tigers on September 3, 2022 at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, MS. — Photo by Chris McDill/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

After an action-packed Week 5 of college football across the SEC, the league announced on Monday its Players of the Week.

The list includes honors for the best offensive, defensive and special teams players — as well as standouts among freshmen and on the offensive and defensive lines. You can check out this week’s recipients right here:

Co-Offensive Player of the Week: Jaxson Dart (QB) | Ole Miss
Co-Offensive Player of the Week: Ray Davis (RB) | Kentucky
Defensive Player of the Week: Smael Mondon (LB) | Georgia
Special Teams Player of the Week: Ainias Smith (KR/PR) | Texas A&M
Offensive lineman of the Week: Jeremy Flax (OT) | Kentucky
Defensive Linemen of the Week: James Pearce (DE) | Tennessee
Co-Freshman of the Week: Caleb Downs (S) | Alabama
Co-Freshman of the Week: Peyton Woodring (K) | Georgia

What a list of performers, especially those two Offensive Players of the Week. Jaxson Dart was the choice after he and Ole Miss narrowly escaped with a home win over LSU in what is certainly the Game of the Year in college football so far. The Rebels won it 55-49 as Dart threw for 389 yards and four touchdowns, adding 50 more yards and another TD on the ground.

If Ole Miss hadn’t won, Jayden Daniels certainly would have picked up his third straight SEC Offensive Player of the Week award. Perhaps he should have anyway after tossing for 414 yards and four touchdowns himself while adding 99 more yards and another TD on the ground to give him north of 500 all-purpose yards on the day.

The only reason he and Dart weren’t both named as OPOYs is Kentucky’s Ray Davis. The former Vanderbilt star exploded for more than 200 yards in the first half alone during the Wildcats’ 33-14 beatdown of the Florida Gators. He would finish with 280 and four total touchdowns for the best RB performance from a Kentucky player since the Moe Williams days.

Davis’ top workhorse up front from this past Saturday, Jeremy Flax, also earned honors as the Offensive Lineman of the Week in the SEC. After a tough 2022 season for the Kentucky O-line and especially Flax, he and the unit have bounced back strong to start 2023.

Elsewhere, Tennessee’s James Pearce was awarded Defensive Lineman of the Week after he recorded a conference-high nine QB pressures in the dominant win over South Carolina. He also recorded two sacks and was close to another one on the play where Spencer Rattler threw a pick-six. Heck of a start to this season for him.

And Texas A&M’s Ainias Smith was a menace in the return game. He only returned three punts in the win vs. Arkansas but did major damage with those. He broke the game open in the fourth quarter with an 82-yard return for a touchdown to help put the game away and was terrific on his other two opportunities as well, going for 49 more yards on them.