Bleacher Report's All-Pac-12 Team

It's difficult to put together an All-Star team for any sport and in college football, it's no different. This year we saw so many outstanding performances in the Pac-12 that it's impossible to name, for example, just two outstanding receivers on an All-Pac-12 team. 

Oregon State and USC had the best receiver duos in the conference yet we can only pick two receivers for this team. 

Here is our All-Pac-12 team. As always, fans will have differing opinions but we all can agree that these players deserve an applause for an outstanding job this year.

Quarterback

First team: Marcus Mariota, Oregon 

Mariota was the easy choice this year, and suffice it to say he was also the surprise of the season. Mariota displayed great leadership while flaunting his incredible mobility and deep-ball potential.

Mariota wasn't the conference's most productive quarterback, but he was the most accurate of all the starting quarterbacks—he completed 69.9 percent of his passes.

Second team: Brett Hundley, UCLA 

Hundley red-shirted last year while he learned the playbook, and this year he was tabbed the starting quarterback with a new playbook. He's a smart kid who makes good decisions.

Running Backs

First team: Kenjon Barner, Oregon; Johnathan Franklin, UCLA

Barner wowed the country with his 1,624 rushing yards and a 6.55 yards-per-carry average. He also rushed for 21 touchdowns and torched USC's defense with 321 rushing yards.

Franklin also had a great year giving UCLA its running game back. Franklin rushed for 1,700 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Second team: Stepfan Taylor, Stanford; Ka'Deem Carey, Arizona 

Carey is only a sophomore so we'll see more of him in 2013 but this season he led the league with a 146.42 yards-per-game average.

Taylor's power running continued Stanford's tradition of up-the-gut dominance in the trenches. He rushed for 1,442 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Wide Receivers

First team: Marqise Lee, USC; Markus Wheaton, Oregon State

Lee led the league in total receiving yardage with 1,680 but he also led the league with his 140 receiving yards-per-game average.

Wheaton had an amazing year with 1,207 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. 

Second team: Brandin Cooks, Oregon State; Robert Woods, USC

Both of these receivers could be on the first team as well. Cooks had 1,120 receiving yards and five touchdowns while Woods had 813 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. 

Tight End

First team: Zach Ertz, Stanford

Ertz finished the season with 66 catches and 837 yards—that was good enough to make him the tenth leading receiver in the league. Ertz was also a finalist for the John Mackey Award which is given to the most outstanding tight end in college football.

Second team: Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Washington 

Seferian-Jenkins caught 63 passes for 791 yards and also finished as one of the three John Mackey Award finalists. 

Offensive Line

First team: Khaled Holmes, USC; David Yankey, Stanford; Jeff Baca, UCLA; Xavier Su'a-Filo, UCLA; Hroniss Grasu, Oregon 

Second team: Brian Schwenke, Cal; Sam Schwartzstein, Stanford; David Bakhtiari, Colorado; Sam Brenner, Utah; Kevin Danser, Stanford 

Place Kicker

First team: Jeff Locke, UCLA

I am a fan of deep kickoffs because they usually aren't returned for any yardage—that can be a game changer in close games. Jeff Locke's kickoffs were touch-backs 75.29 percent of the time. No other kicker comes close to that in the Pac-12.

Second team: Trevor Romaine, Oregon State

Romaine was very accurate in kicking field goals—he missed two all season (14 of 16). 

Kick Returner

First team: Reggie Dunn, Utah

Dunn is the best kickoff returner in the country. This year he returned four kickoffs for touchdowns, which is no surprise since he runs the 40 in 4.32 seconds. 

Second team: Marqise Lee, USC

Lee returned 28 kicks for 802 yards and one touchdown and also led the league with a 66.8 yards-per-game average.

Defensive Line

First team: Star Lotulelei, Utah; Scott Crichton, Oregon State; Will Sutton, Arizona State; Dion Jordan, Oregon 

Second team: Morgan Breslin, USC; Dantone Jones, UCLA; Ben Gardner, Stanford; Leonard Williams, USC

Linebackers

First team: Anthony Barr, UCLA; Michael Clay, Oregon; and a tie: Eric Kendricks, UCLA, and Kiko Alonso, Oregon

Barr had 73 tackles and four forced fumbles, Clay had 92 tackles, Kendricks led the league with 137 total tackles and Alonso had four interceptions. 

Second team: Trent Murphy, Stanford; Brandon Magee, Arizona State; Chase Thomas, Stanford

Cornerbacks

First team: Jordan Poyer, Oregon State; Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, Oregon

The state of Oregon had the two best corners in the league and their job of defending passes was no easy task. Ikpre-Olomu had four interceptions and broke up 15 passes. Poyer had seven interceptions and broke up seven passes.

Second team: Rashaad Reynolds, Oregon State; Desmond Trufant, Washington

Trufant broke up seven passes and had one interception while Reynolds broke up 13 passes and intercepted three. 

Safeties

First team: Ed Reynolds, Stanford; Deone Bucannon, Washington State

Reynolds made six interceptions, broke up five passes and defended 11 passes. Bucannon defended eight passes, broke up four passes and intercepted four as well.

Second team: T.J. McDonald, USC; Tevin McDonald, UCLA

The McDonald brothers play for rival teams and both made second team. Tevin had one interception, defended nine passes and broke up eight. T.J. led the Trojan defense in tackles with 97.

Punter

First team: Jeff Locke, UCLA

Locke averaged 43.39 yards per punt and had an average of 237 punting yards per game. 

Second team: Josh Hubner, Arizona State

Hubner led the league with a 47.23 average-yards-per-punt.

Punt Returner

First team: Keenan Allen, California

Allen only returned punts in nine games due to a knee injury suffered against Utah but certainly was a thrill every time he caught a punt. Allen averaged 14.13 yards per punt return and also scored one touchdown. 

Second team: Drew Terrell, Stanford

Terrell returned 23 punts for 290 yards and one touchdown.