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Mountain West Football Media Reveals 2020 All-Conference Teams, Individual Honors
The end of an unusual season finds a lot of unexpected names among the Mountain West’s best.
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Did they get it right?
At the end of what is certainly the strangest year in Mountain West football history, a host of new faces and old made the cut in the eyes of the football media’s all-conference performers.
Nevada quarterback Carson Strong, San Jose State defensive lineman Cade Hall, Boise State returner Avery Williams, and UNLV wide receiver headline the honorees as the conference’s player of the year selections on offense, defense, special teams and among freshmen, respectively.
Carson Strong’s aggressive workload worked wonders for the Wolf Pack throughout the fall as he led the Mountain West with a 69.4% completion rate, 2,587 passing yards and 22 touchdowns on 327 attempts. He is the second Wolf Pack player to earn an individual honor after Toa Taua was named the Mountain West’s top freshman in 2018, and he is the first sophomore ever to be named offensive player of the year.
Cade Hall led a revitalized Spartans defense with nine tackles for loss and eight sacks, the latter of which led all conference defenders. He gives San Jose State an individual honor for the second straight year, as Josh Love was named offensive player of the year in 2019, though he is the first Spartans to claim defensive player of the year honors.
Avery Williams, meanwhile, earned special teams honors for the second year in a row, becoming the fourth player in conference history to do so in back-to-back seasons. Not only did he average 29.6 yards per kick return and 11.4 yards on punt returns, he blocked two kicks and ended the conference season as the only player in the Mountain West with multiple special teams touchdowns.
Not to be overshadowed, however, is UNLV’s Kyle Williams, who proved to himself a keeper on a young Rebels offense. He led UNLV with 35 catches for 426 yards while grabbing two touchdowns, joining Armani Rogers, Devonte Boyd, Ryan Wolfe and Dominique Dorsey as the only Rebels to be named freshman of the year.
San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan was named as the conference’s coach of the year after leading the Spartans to one of their most successful seasons ever. At 6-0, SJSU is now in a position to claim its first Mountain West football title, and its first outright championship since 1990, next weekend.
As for the all-conference two-deep, San Diego State safety Tariq Thompson solidified the rare feat of being named an all-MW performer for four straight years, landing on the first team after three nods to the second-team. Colorado State punter Ryan Stonehouse was named a first-team player for the third time, becoming the first Ram ever to accomplish this.
Boise State and Nevada lead the way with ten honorees, while San Diego State is right behind with nine players named. UNLV and Utah State are the only teams without a player named to the all-conference roster.
First Team
Offense
QB – Carson Strong, Nevada
RB – Ronnie Rivers, Fresno State
RB – Xazavian Valladay, Wyoming
WR – Khalil Shakir, Boise State
WR – Romeo Doubs, Nevada
WR – Bailey Gaither, San Jose State
TE – Cole Turner, Nevada
OL – Parker Ferguson, Air Force
OL – Nolan Laufenberg, Air Force
OL – Jack Snyder, San Jose State
OL – Kyle Spalding, San Diego State
OL – Keegan Cryder, Wyoming
Defense
DL – Viliami Fehoko, San Jose State
DL – Cade Hall, San Jose State
DL – Scott Patchan, Colorado State
DL – Cameron Thomas, San Diego State
LB – Kyle Harmon, San Jose State
LB – Caden McDonald, San Diego State
LB – Darius Muasau, Hawaii
LB – Chad Muma, Wyoming
DB – Jerrick Reed II, New Mexico
DB – Avery Williams, Boise State
DB – Darren Hall, San Diego State
DB – Tariq Thompson, San Diego State
Special Teams
K – Brandon Talton, Nevada
P – Ryan Stonehouse, Colorado State
KR – Avery Williams, Boise State
PR – Avery Williams, Boise State
Second Team
Offense
QB – Nick Starkel, San Jose State
RB – Greg Bell, San Diego State
RB – Toa Taua, Nevada
WR – Calvin Turner, Hawaii
WR – Tre Walker, San Jose State
WR – Dante Wright, Colorado State
TE – Trey McBride, Colorado State
OL – Aaron Frost, Nevada
OL – John Ojukwu, Boise State
OL – Jake Stetz, Boise State
OL – Syrus Tuitele, Fresno State
OL – Zachary Thomas, San Diego State
Defense
DL – Sam Hammond, Nevada
DL – Shane Irwin, Boise State
DL – David Perales, Fresno State
DL – Dom Peterson, Nevada
LB – Lawson Hall, Nevada
LB – Dequan Jackson, Colorado State
LB – Brandon Shook, New Mexico
LB – Riley Whimpey, Boise State
DB – Kekaula Kaniho, Boise State
DB – Jalen Walker, Boise State
DB – Tre Jenkins, San Jose State
DB – Cortez Davis, Hawaii
Special Teams
K – John Hoyland, Wyoming
P – Tanner Kuljian, San Diego State
KR – Jordan Byrd, San Diego State
PR – Romeo Doubs, Nevada
Honorable Mentions
Air Force: Kyle Krepsz, OL; Brad Roberts, RB; George Silvanic, DL
Boise State: John Bates, TE; Garrett Curran, OL; Jonah Dalmas, PK; Scott Matlock, DL; Ezekiel Noa, LB; CT Thomas, WR; Andrew Van Buren, RB
Colorado State: Elijah Johnson, OL; Manny Jones, DL; Toby McBride, DL; Thomas Pannunzio, KR; Cam Reddy, OL; Barry Wesley, OL; Dante Wright, PR
Fresno State: Kevin Atkins, DL; Levelle Bailey, LB; Jalen Cropper, WR; Jake Haener, QB; Kwami Jones, DL; Keric Wheatfall, WR; Evan Williams, DB
Hawai‘i: Chevan Cordeiro, QB; Quentin Frazier, DB; Jared Smart, WR; Blessman Ta’ala, DL
Nevada: Julian Diaz, P; Jacob Gardner, OL; Jermaine Ledbetter, OL; Tyler Orsini, OL; BerDale Robins, DB; Tyson Williams, DB
New Mexico: Bobby Cole, RB; Joey Noble, DL; Teton Saltes, OL; Kyle Stapley, OL
San Diego State: Matt Araiza, PK; Keshawn Banks, DL; Daniel Bellinger, TE; Tyler Hawkins, DB; Dwayne Johnson, Jr., DB; Jonah Tavai, DL; Evan Williams, DB
San José State: Derrick Deese, Jr., TE; Matt Mercurio, PK; Tre Webb, DB
UNLV: Jacoby Windmon, DL
Utah State: Demytrick Ali’ifua, OL; Shaq Bond, DB; Nick Heninger, DL; Stephen Kotsanlee, P; Marcus Moore, DL; Savon Scarver, KR; Karter Shaw, OL; AJ Vongphachanh, LB
Wyoming: Esaias Gandy, DB; Logan Harris, OL; Isaiah Neyor, WR
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