Wisconsin football: Chris Orr named B1G defensive player of the week

Coming off a hard-fought 24-15 victory over the Northwestern Wildcats, Wisconsin Badgers senior ILB Chris Orr was named the Big Ten’s defensive player of the week on Monday morning.

Orr, a senior from DeSoto, Texas, was all over the field on Saturday wreaking havoc on anything that the Wildcats tried to do on offense. He finished the game with nine tackles (five solo), including two for a loss, had two sacks and forced a fumble.

This is Orr’s first ever B1G player of the week award and a well-deserved feather in the cap for a hard-nosed player that has had to wait his turn to shine in a Wisconsin linebacking corps that has been loaded with talent for the past few years.

Orr is the linchpin for the Badgers defense that allowed just 255 yards, recorded 14.0 tackles for loss, 5.0 sacks, forced three turnovers and scored two touchdowns in the win over Northwestern.

The last time a Wisconsin defensive player won this award was back in 2017 when Leon Jacobs did it. There were co-offensive players of the week this week with Minnesota QB Tanner Morgan (who went 21-of-22 for 396 yards and four TDs) and Penn State QB Sean Clifford sharing the award. Freshman of the week went to Indiana’s QB Michael Penix Jr. and Minnesota P Jacob Herbers won special teams player of the week.

Orr and the No. 1 ranked Badgers defense will be back at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday to play the Kent State Golden Flashes.