DALLAS (FWAA) – Ole Miss defensive tackle Will Echoles pressured the LSU backfield all night, making three tackles behind the line of scrimmage and a sack, as the No. 8 Rebels won the weekend’s most-hyped matchup in dramatic fashion over No. 7 LSU, 32-24. For his play up front in leading the Rebels’ charge in front of a Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium record crowd, Echoles earned the Outland Trophy National Player of the Week honor for games during the weekend of Sept. 19, as selected by the Football Writers Association of America.
This is the fourth season for the FWAA to select an Outland Trophy National Player of the Week as part of the NCFAA's weekly national honors from 12 awards. The recipient of the 2026 Outland Trophy will be announced on The Home Depot College Football Awards, live on ESPN on Dec. 11. The official presentation to the winner will be made at the Outland Trophy Awards Dinner sponsored by Werner Enterprises and produced by the Greater Omaha Sports Committee in Omaha, Neb., on Jan. 27, 2027.
Echoles is the first Ole Miss player to earn the Outland Trophy National Player of the Week honor. The weekly winners are added to the preseason Outland Trophy watch list going forward. Echoles was already a member of that list.
The 6-foot-3, 315-pound junior from Houston, Miss., led an aggressive defensive front for Ole Miss (3-0, 1-0) with the 3.0 TFL’s to go with a sack, five tackles and a quarterback pressure. The preseason All-SEC first-team choice directed a Rebels unit that limited LSU to season lows across the board, including just 330 yards of total offense after entering the game averaging 586.0.
Ole Miss pressured the LSU backfield all night, and the Tigers passed for only 158 yards — 200 below their season average. Echoles and the defensive front helped create the defensive play that sealed the game, an interception off a tipped pass in the Ole Miss end zone with just over a minute left, cementing Ole Miss’ 14th consecutive at home that extends a streak that ties for the second-longest active streak in FBS.
Ole Miss has not had an Outland Trophy winner in its past, but has a recent finalist, also a defensive tackle, in Walter Nolen from 2024. Offensive tackle Michael Oher was also a finalist in 2008.
The FWAA will announce the Outland Trophy semifinalists on Nov. 18, and those players will then be paired down to three finalists announced on Nov. 24. The Outland Trophy winner is chosen from those finalists who will be part of the annual FWAA All-America Team. The FWAA All-America Committee, after voting input from the entire membership, selects a 26-man first team and eventually the three Outland finalists. Committee members, then by individual ballot, select the winner. Only interior linemen on offense or defense are eligible for the award; ends and edge rushers are not eligible.
The Outland Trophy, celebrating 81 years since its founding, is the third-oldest major college football award. Created in 1946 when Dr. John Outland presented the FWAA with a financial contribution to initiate the award, the Outland Trophy has been given to the best interior lineman in college football ever since Dr. Outland, an All-American at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1890s, eventually took up practice in Kansas City, Mo. An avid outdoorsman, Dr. Outland believed linemen did not get the credit they deserved and wanted an award to recognize them.
The Outland Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which encompasses college football’s most prestigious awards. The NCFAA’s 25 awards have honored nearly 1,000 recipients since 1935. Visit NCFAA.org for more information or follow on X at @NCFAA.
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The Greater Omaha Sports Committee, founded in 1977, is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, consisting of more than 1,300 men and women from the City of Omaha, the State of Nebraska, and others. The Committee serves to communicate, develop, initiate and promote sports activities in the Greater Omaha sports area. In addition to the Outland Trophy Award Events and Dinner, the Greater Omaha Sports Committee promotes high school, college, and professional sports in the Greater Omaha area and the Midwest. For more information contact Bob Mancuso Jr., Chairman at bmancuso@showofficeonline.com or see showofficeonline.com.
Founded in 1941, the Football Writers Association of America consists of 1,200 men and women who cover college football. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include game-day operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at tiger@fwaa.com.