Eight Boise State players earn All-Mountain West honors, half on first team
Four Boise State football players were selected to the All-Mountain West first team on Tuesday afternoon, a bit of a fall-off from last season, when seven Broncos were on the first team after an undefeated run through the conference.
An additional four players made the second team in voting that was released Tuesday, while three Broncos earned honorable mention.
The Broncos’ first team selections on offense were redshirt junior left tackle Kage Casey and redshirt senior Mason Randolph, another offensive lineman. Junior safety Ty Benefield, who leads the team in tackles with 92, and senior cornerback A’Marion McCoy were the first-teamers on defense.
Casey was the only Boise State player among those honored to earn first-team honors in back-to-back years. He told reporters on Tuesday that he’s “blessed” for that to have happened.
“A lot of people think in order to have success, you need to have the special effort or the special finish on blocks,” said Casey, who’s expected to be an NFL Draft selection next year. “But you just need to be consistent every single day, and that’s film room to practice to games.”
The Broncos’ second team selections were sophomore running back Dylan Riley, senior defensive tackle Braxton Fely (second team last year), redshirt junior edge rusher Jayden Virgin-Morgan (first team last year) and senior cornerback Jeremiah Earby.
Redshirt junior right guard Roger Carreon, redshirt senior tight end Matt Lauter (first team in 2024) and junior punter Oscar Doyle earned honorable mention.
The number of All-Mountain West selections for the Broncos (8-4, 6-2) was not all that surprising given their season. An injury to starting quarterback Maddux Madsen, the preseason offensive player of the year in the conference, kept him out for almost four full games, which in turn affected the output from a receiving corps that’s been riddled with injuries.
Boise State’s running game adopted a more balanced approach across its three primary running backs, as opposed to last year, when the team could rely on Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty. Riley led the Broncos with 1,016 yards rushing.
On defense, BSU saw improvement in its secondary, resulting in three players on the first and second teams, but the front seven struggled against the run and didn’t record nearly as many sacks. The defense ranks No. 8 in the Mountain West against the run, allowing 162.3 yards per game.
Earby and McCoy each had four interceptions this season, and Benefield had two, while ranking 10th in the league in total tackles. Earby had 52 total tackles to go along with his picks.
Mountain West All-Conference selections
- Offensive Player of the Year - UNLV QB Anthony Colandrea
- Co-Defensive Players of the Year - New Mexico LB Jaxton Eck and San Diego State DB Chris Johnson
- Special Teams Player of the Year - Hawaii PK Kansei Matsuzawa
- Freshman of the Year - Hawaii QB Micah Alejado
- Coach of the Year - New Mexico’s Jason Eck
All-Mountain West First Team
Offense
- QB Anthony Colandrea, UNLV
- WR Jackson Harris, Hawaii
- WR Danny Scudero, San Jose State
- WR Braden Pegan, Utah State
- RB Lucky Sutton, San Diego State
- RB Jai’Den Thomas, UNLV
- TE Dorian Thomas, New Mexico
- OL Costen Cooley, Air Force
- OL Kage Casey, Boise State
- OL Mason Randolph, Boise State
- OL Jacob Spomer, Fresno State
- OL Ross Ulugalu-Maseuli, San Diego State
- PK Kansei Matsuzawa, Hawaii
- KR Damon Bankston, New Mexico
Defense
- DL Jackie Johnson III, Hawaii
- DL Dylan LaBarbera, Nevada
- DL Keyshawn James-Newby, New Mexico
- DL Trey White, San Diego State
- LB Owen Long, Colorado State
- LB Jaxton Eck, New Mexico
- LB Owen Chambliss, San Diego State
- LB Jordan Pollard, San Jose State
- LB John Miller, Utah State
- DB Ty Benefield, Boise State
- DB A’Marion McCoy, Boise State
- DB Chris Johnson, San Diego State
- DB Noah Avinger, Utah State
- P Bryan Hansen, Colorado State
- PR Jordan Napier, San Diego State
