Pac-12 Football: The Conference All-Senior Team in 2014
With all but two Pac-12 teams having completed the regular season, it's time to honor the seniors who have made the biggest impact on the field in 2014.
Just a week ago, we took a look at projections for the All-Conference team with no regard for class or experience. The best of the best made the cut, plain and simple. This time around, we're giving a special nod to the seniors by redoing the All-Conference team to include those players who have left it all on the field for at least four years.
Some of the list will look the same, but you'll also see some new faces getting their due. The only requirement here is to have a senior standing on campus or in football, so we're including redshirt juniors as well who may either be declaring for the draft or returning for a final season in 2015.
Take a look at the All-Senior team from the Pac-12 as we get set to put a bow on another thrilling year in college football.
All Stats via cfbstats.com. * = Redshirt Junior
Quarterback
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Marcus Mariota, Oregon*
Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota may end up winning more awards than he can count. As a redshirt junior who already has his degree, he qualifies for our All-Senior team. To be perfectly honest, no one else even comes close.
With 48 total touchdowns, two interceptions and over 4,000 yards of total offense, Mariota is having an all-time great season—and one that can only get better with postseason victories. On the field, he's as dominant as any player in recent memory.
His most recent outing against Oregon State showcased all his tools in perfect condition. He threw for well over 300 yards and four touchdowns, showing laser-like accuracy and firing darts all over the field. He also poured in two rushing touchdowns (including a 23-yard scamper in which he eluded half of the Beavers secondary). If you were drafting Pac-12 players and everyone in the past 100 years was up for grabs, Mariota would still be a top-five pick.
Running Back
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Javorius Allen, USC*
Terron Ward, Oregon State
The Pac-12 hasn't exactly been known as a hotbed for running backs in recent years, but 2014 began to reverse the trend. We began the season with the only 1,000-yard back—Oregon's Byron Marshall—playing wide receiver. We ended with standouts in Devontae Booker, Paul Perkins, Nick Wilson and Royce Freeman, among others.
One of those "others" is redshirt junior Javorius Allen, a physical back with excellent lateral speed and vision. He rushed for over 1,300 yards and nine scores for the Trojans and has a chance to be named to the All Pac-12 first team.
Since we're honoring seniors, the next in line is Oregon State's Terron Ward. At just 5'7", he often gets overlooked both on the field and nationally, but the Beavers offense was hindered significantly with him out of the lineup in the team's final two games. He finished with 696 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on the season.
Wide Receiver
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WR Nelson Spruce, Colorado*
WR Vince Mayle, Washington State
Vince Mayle should make the All-Conference team regardless of what year he is—and the fact that he's a senior makes his selection all the more obvious. Doubters will always point to the Cougars offense under Mike Leach as one that will inflate the statistics of both quarterbacks and wide receivers (and that's true to an extent).
But on the other hand, it can be difficult to stand out with a receiving corps that goes five or six deep. Stand out is exactly what Mayle did in 2014 with 106 catches for 1,483 yards and nine touchdowns. He had two games with over 250 yards receiving (and only once did he manage fewer than 75 yards through the air).
The second name is that of a redshirt junior who we'll likely see again next fall: Colorado's Nelson Spruce. Tied with Mayle for the national lead in receptions, Spruce was one of the few bright spots in an inconsistent Buffaloes offense. Inconsistent, however, is a still a step up from the woeful units of previous years—and Spruce's 12 touchdowns should be given plenty of credit for that.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Tight End
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Connor Hamlett, Oregon State
Oregon State wouldn't be near the top of the list of teams you'd expect to place two players on an All-Senior team, but you can't ignore what tight end Connor Hamlett has meant to the Beavers offense throughout his career.
The big 6'7", 266-pound Hamlett has never finished with fewer than 300 yards receiving, and he provided stability in an offense that saw a lot of changes over the past few years. In 2014, Hamlett finished with 342 yards receiving and a pair of scores, and his blocking led to a much-improved rushing attack as well.
Fortunately for Mike Riley and the offense, junior Caleb Smith has plenty of ability and should keep the position performing at a high level. But no one in Corvallis will forget the memorable career of Hamlett anytime soon.
Offensive Line
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C Hroniss Grasu, Oregon
T Jake Fisher, Oregon
T Jamil Douglas, Arizona State
G Aundrey Walker, USC
G Colin Tanigawa, Washington
For all the offensive-line woes the Oregon Ducks suffered, the talent level was still at an all-time high (and two players in particular helped pave the way for the best rushing offense in the Pac-12). Center Hroniss Grasu and tackle Jake Fisher will both be drafted in the spring—and 2014 has shown you why.
Grasu, despite missing the final two games of the regular season, was the rock of the offense. Without him, the entire operation would have crumbled on multiple occasions. Fisher was out for the Washington State and Arizona games, and the line gave up 12 sacks. It didn't give up that many in the next five games combined.
Jamil Douglas began his career with Arizona State at guard and only recently moved out to tackle. The move turned out to be a good one as the 6'4", 300-pound Douglas aided in a strong, balanced offense that hurt teams on the ground with D.J. Foster and through the air with the connection between Taylor Kelly and Jaelen Strong.
The final two spots go to Aundrey Walker and Colin Tanigawa of USC and Washington, respectively. Walker dealt with injuries in the first part of the season but returned to lead the Trojans' offensive line. Tanigawa was tasked with playing center in Chris Petersen's offense. Both players were invaluable on offense and would start anywhere.
Defensive Line
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DE Nate Orchard, Utah
DT Danny Shelton, Washington
DE Andrew Hudson, Washington
Utah's Nate Orchard and Washington's Danny Shelton are two players who will almost certainly make the All-Conference team, so their inclusion in our All-Senior team should come as little surprise.
Orchard was not only the most improved player in the conference, he was also the most dominant defensive linemen, period. He finished the season with 17.5 sacks, good for second in the country and four more than the best total in 2013. He also had 20 tackles for loss to go along with two forced fumbles.
Shelton was the defensive tackle on one of the best defenses in the Pac-12, so the majority of successful plays can be traced back to his efforts. Sometimes it was taking on double-teams and opening up holes for linebackers. Other times, he would burst into the backfield and swallow up either the quarterback or running back. He finished with nine sacks and was second on the team with 87 tackles.
One of the new faces to the All-Senior team that deserves recognition is another outstanding Husky defender, Andrew Hudson. He ended up with 11.5 sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss, which goes to show you just how impressive the Washington defense was throughout the season, especially in the front seven.
Linebacker
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Hau'oli Kikaha, Washington
Eric Kendricks, UCLA
A.J. Tarpley, Stanford
Jared Norris, Utah*
Linebackers are often spotlighted when bursting into the backfield for a big tackle or whiffing on a running back who churns out a 20-yard run. These four seniors not only made the spectacular plays, but they also made the average plays too (and rarely were at fault for negative ones).
You know all about Hau'oli Kikaha and Eric Kendricks: two players featured in our All-Conference projections. Kikaha was a sack machine with 18 on the season to go along with 24 tackles for loss. He was arguably the most dominant defensive player in the conference not named Scooby. As for Kendricks, he finished sixth in the nation in tackles with 135. He was the most consistently great player on a strong UCLA defense.
A.J. Tarpley began the 2014 season with big shoes to fill after the departure of players like Shayne Skov and Trent Murphy from the Cardinal defense. The starting experience was there, but the senior needed to become a leader and, despite finishing the season with a 7-5 record, the defense was as good as there is in college football. It only gave up 20 or more points on three occasions, and only the Oregon Ducks had real success against it. Tarpley finished with 77 tackles and an interception.
Lastly, we have Jared Norris, who's enjoyed playing in the shadows of standout defensive linemen Nate Orchard and Hunter Dimick but is nonetheless just as big of a reason for the Utes' success on that side of the ball. Norris had 13 tackles for loss and 108 overall to go along with his four sacks.
Defensive Back
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CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, Oregon
CB Steven Nelson, Oregon State
S Damarious Randall, Arizona State
S Jordan Richards, Stanford
With quarterbacks lighting up the scoreboards each week and piling up record numbers, secondaries (on the whole) won't look back fondly on the 2014 campaign. The Pac-12 still featured a solid collection of individual talent, especially in the senior ranks.
Oregon's Ifo Ekpre-Olomu began the season as one of the premier corners in the country and didn't do anything that might change that notion (however, flaws were on display against Washington State). After a poor midseason stretch that coincided with the Ducks at their worst, Ekpre-Olomu has been as effective as anyone in limiting yards to the receivers he's covered.
Oregon State's Steven Nelson is one of the league's best-kept secrets—which is hard to believe after he finished the 2013 campaign with a whopping six interceptions. He tacked on two more as a senior and has already accepted an invitation to play in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.
At the safety position, you'll see Arizona State's Damarious Randall (also one of our choices for the All-Conference team). Stanford's Jordan Richards has excellent NFL potential and—with three interceptions and 78 overall tackles—he was perhaps the biggest reason the Cardinal secondary allowed fewer than 180 yards per game through the air.
Special Teams
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P Drew Riggleman, Arizona*
K Andre Heidari, USC
KR Kaelin Clay, Utah
PR Kaelin Clay, Utah
Arizona's Drew Riggleman gets the nod over Utah's Tom Hackett on this occasion because the Utes punter played as a true freshman and does not qualify. You could make a case for either player on the All-Conference team regardless (because the two finished with just a half-yard difference between their average punt distances).
At kicker, the best senior was USC's Andre Heidari, who didn't get too many chances to show off his leg due to a Trojans offense that insisted upon finding the end zone instead. Heidari finished the season making eight out of his ten field-goal attempts and converting 43 of his 44 extra point tries.
Utah's Kaelin Clay makes it a clean sweep at the return positions (and it's really a no-brainer). He was the best punt returner in the nation with three touchdowns and nearly 17 yards per return, and he averaged over 26 yards per kickoff return to go along with another score.
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