Nov. 24, 2008

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern senior Kevin Mims (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands) became the seventh different Wildcat player to be honored by the Big Ten Conference this season after picking Defensive Player of the Week kudos for last Saturday's performance against Illinois.

Mims, a starting defensive end, was tabbed the league's top defensive player after recording a season-high-tying seven tackles (three solos), 2.5 sacks (for a loss of 14 yards) and a forced fumble. The fumble, which was recovered by Northwestern's Quentin Davie, led to a late fourth-quarter field goal and helped seal the victory, 27-10.

His effort helped Northwestern hold Illinois -- which came into Saturday's game with the Big Ten's number-one offense -- to a season-low 10 points and 113 yards less than their season average for total offense. Mims recorded 2.5 of NU's five sacks on Illinois quarterback Juice Williams.

The five sacks helped push Northwestern into the top spot in the Big Ten for most team sacks (33) this year.

Mims concluded the regular season with 44 tackles, the most by any defensive lineman, and 7.0 TFL's (3.5 sacks).

Northwestern's previous 2008 Big Ten player-of-the-week honorees were: C.J. Bachér (Iowa), Vince Browne (Ohio), Stefan Demos (Syracuse), Mike Kafka (Minnesota), Brendan Smith (Minnesota) and Amado Villarreal (Ohio).