VALDOSTA, Ga. – Following a thrilling 30-28 victory over Shorter in the season finale on Saturday, Valdosta State football freshman Ted Hurst and sophomore kicker/punter Estin Thiele were named Gulf South Conference Freshman and Special Teams Players of the Week, respectively, the conference office announced Monday.  This is the third weekly honor this season for Thiele and back-to-back weeks, while it is the first honor for Hurst.
 
Thiele, a native of Saint Augustine, Fla., earned his sixth weekly honor of his VSU career as he went 3 for 3 in field goals and 3 for 3 in extra-points in the win over Shorter on Saturday.  He scored 12 points in the game, moving into ninth all-time in school history in career scoring with 210 points on 117 of 118 extra-points and 31 of 40 in field goals for a 77.5 percent average. 
 
This season, Thiele also handled a majority of the kickoffs and punts for the Blazers, recording 30 punts for 1,187 yards and a 39.57 average with a long of 64, ten punts over 50 yards and nine inside the 20.  He finished 17 of 22 in field goals (77.27%) with a long of 45, while recording 36 kickoffs for 2,431 yards and an average of 64.0 yards per kick and 24 touchbacks.  He was named to the Fred Mitchell Award Watchlist in September.
 
Hurst, a native of Savannah, Ga., continued an outstanding start to his career with a career-high six catches for 105 yards and a touchdown, including a long reception of 34 yards, in the victory Saturday. For the season, Hurst played in all 11 games with 22 receptions for 431 yards and six receiving touchdowns, while averaging 19.6 yards per reception for the year.  He finished with two games of over 100 yards receiving this season, including Saturday.
 
Both Hurst and Thiele will be important pieces for the Blazers in 2023.