EMCC QB Ty Keyes named MACCC Offensive Player of the Week for second straight week

PRESS RELEASE (EMCC Athletics)- For the second consecutive week, East Mississippi Community College quarterback Ty Keyes has earned MACCC Offensive Player of the Week honors. The announcement was made Tuesday by the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference office.

Keyes, a transfer from Southern Miss, followed up his previous week’s NJCAA and MACCC Offensive Player of the Week performance by throwing for 472 yards and six touchdowns on 27-of-35 (77%) passing in leading the EMCC Lions to a commanding 65-17 home victory over Holmes a week ago. While registering the seventh-highest, single-game passing yardage total during the Buddy Stephens coaching era (since 2008), Keyes connected on scoring tosses of 75, 49, 40, 24, 20, and 16 yards. He also picked up 24 rushing yards on two attempts to give him 496 yards of total offense against the Bulldogs.

The previous week during EMCC’s 47-23 home triumph over then-No. 4 Jones College, Keyes completed 26-of-41 passes for 342 yards and four touchdowns against the Bobcats. His four touchdown passes all came during the first half and were all caught by different receivers. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound signal-caller also picked up 44 rushing yards on six attempts to account for 386 yards of total offense during Week 2.

For the season through the first three games, Keyes is averaging an NJCAA-leading 355.3 passing yards per game on 75-of-114 (65.8%) accuracy to rank third nationally. The former two-time Mississippi Gatorade Football Player of the Year at Taylorsville High School is also currently tied for second among NJCAA Division I quarterbacks with a dozen touchdown passes on the year.

Keyes along with MACCC Defensive Player of the Week recipient Jaiyden Thompson (Itawamba) and MACCC Special Teams Player of the Week honoree Lyndell Boatman (Southwest Mississippi) are now all eligible for NJCAA Player of the Week consideration. National weekly honors will be announced on Wednesday (Sept. 27).

The sixth-ranked and reigning MACCC champion EMCC Lions (2-1, 1-0 MACCC North) are set to close out their current three-game football home stand on Thursday (Sept. 28) by playing host to fourth-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast (3-0, 1-0 MACCC South). Kickoff at EMCC’s Sullivan-Windham Field is set for 7 p.m. on the Scooba campus.