We all know football season is close when media day arrives. There is usually not much news, but just the same old coach speak about one game at a time blah, blah, blah. Each coach was interviewed by a local radio station and I will post them once it is available on their site. Also, to view all of the podium interviews by coaches, players and Commissioner Craig Thompson, go to the offical MWC media day web site.
Also, this season marks the 10th anniversary of the Mountain West Conference after they broke away from the 16 team Western Athletic Conference that was a miserable failure and then added TCU in 2005.
The news that comes out is the preseason all-conference teams and the league order of finish. Looks like there is a tier system with the league split into thirds. I am not giving any clues about my order of finish, which I will start presenting starting in August. To me Colorado State and Air Force should be switched, Air Force only returns three offensive starters and will struggle.
As for the Rams, they will have one of the league's best running back duo in Kyle Bell and Gatrell Johnson III that should challenge the Utes and BYU for best two back program. Plus they have Kory Sperry who had a season ending knee injury -- he was a huge play making tight end and will help ease in the new quarterback at Fort Collins.
| 2008 Mountain West Conference Preseason Football Poll |
||
| Rk. | Team (first place votes) | Points |
| 1. | BYU (29) | 299 |
| 2. | Utah (5) | 274 |
| 3. | TCU | 239 |
| 4. | New Mexico | 197 |
| 5. | Wyoming | 156 |
| 6. | Air Force | 141 |
| 7. | San Diego State | 92 |
| 8. | Colorado State | 73 |
| 9. | UNLV | 59 |
Below is the preseason all conference team listed below.
| 2008 Preseason All-Mountain West Football Team | ||||
| Position | Student-Athlete | Class | School | |
| OFFENSE | ||||
| WR | Austin Collie** | Jr. | BYU | |
| WR | Ryan Wolfe | Jr. | UNLV | |
| OL | Nick Charles** | Jr. | Air Force | |
| OL | Ray Feinga* | Sr. | BYU | |
| OL | Dallas Reynolds* | Sr. | BYU | |
| OL | Blake Schlueter** | Sr. | TCU | |
| OL | Robert Conley** | Sr. | Utah | |
| TE | Dennis Pitta* | Jr. | BYU | |
| QB | Max Hall* | Jr. | BYU | |
| RB | Harvey Unga** | So. | BYU | |
| RB | Rodney Ferguson* | Sr. | New Mexico | |
| DEFENSE | ||||
| DL | Jan Jorgensen* | Jr. | BYU | |
| DL | Paul Kruger | So. | Utah | |
| DL | John Fletcher** | Jr. | Wyoming | |
| DL/LB | Ryan Kemp | Sr. | Air Force | |
| LB | Ward Dobbs** | Sr. | Wyoming | |
| LB | Russell Allen | Sr. | San Diego State | |
| LB | Jason Phillips** | Sr. | TCU | |
| DB | Brice McCain** | Sr. | Utah | |
| DB | DeAndre Wright* | Sr. | New Mexico | |
| DB | Stephen Hodge** | Sr. | TCU | |
| DB | Robert Johnson | Jr. | Utah | |
| SPECIALISTS | ||||
| P | Louie Sakoda* | Sr. | Utah | |
| PK | Louie Sakoda** | Sr. | Utah | |
| Ret. | Devin Moore | Sr. | Wyoming | |
| * member of the 2007 All-Mountain West Conference first-team. ** member of the 2007 All-Mountain West Conference second-team. |
||||
| Offensive Player of the Year: Max Hall, Jr., QB, BYU |
||||
| Defensive Player of the Year: Jason Phillips, Sr., LB, TCU |
||||
| Special Teams Player of the Year: Louie Sakoda, Sr., PK/P, Utah |
||||
| Freshman of the Year: Braylon Broughton, DE, TCU |
||||
comments (0) write a comment »
write a new comment
This article has no comments.