Dec. 3, 2007
Complete All-WAC Teams and Awards in PDF Format
LOGAN, Utah - Utah State football had four players earn all-Western Athletic Conference honors, voted on by the league's coaches and announced by the conference office Monday. Kevin Robinson was named to the first-team, while Shawn Murphy, Jake Hutton and Leon Jackson III were tabbed to the second-team.
The four players honored matches the 2005 season for most all-WAC honorees for the Aggies, while this is the first season to have more than two named to the second-team since the 2003 squad had seven players earn second-team all-Sun Belt accolades.
Robinson, a senior wide receivier/kick returner and a native of Fresno, Calif. (Hoover HS), was named to the first-team as the special teams player. In all-purpose yards, Robinson leads the WAC and is eighth in the country with 193.08 all-purpose ypg. Robinson also leads both the WAC and the NCAA with an 18.9 yards per punt return average. He has one punt return for a TD, a 70-yarder against Nevada on Oct. 20. For his career, Robinson had four punt returns for a TD. Robinson also ranks third in the league and ninth in the nation in kickoff return with a 29.3 ypr average and has three kick returns for TD, only one of two players in the country to do so. He also is the only player in the country with four combined returns (three kickoff and one punt) this season.
Robinson recently became the NCAA career all-purpose yards per play record holder, with a 16.16 average on 6,479 career yards in 401 career plays.
"Kevin is very deserving of this honor, especially for breaking the NCAA all-purpose yards per play record, as well as for leading the conference and being in the top of the NCAA stats for all-purpose yards," USU head coach Brent Guy said.
Murphy, a senior left guard and a native of Alpine, Utah (Lone Peak HS/Dixie JC), was tabbed to the second-team offensive line. After playing offensive tackle last season, Murphy made the transition to offensive guard this year, where he did not give up any sacks, grading out at a team-leading 84 percent. Murphy also led the team with 137 knockdowns. He started all 12 games this season and all 24 during his USU career, playing in all but six offensive snaps this season. Murphy anchored an Aggie offensive line that accumulated 1,499 rushing yards, the most for a USU offense since 1999 when the Aggies had 1,941 rushing yards. Utah State had 3,335 yards of total offense.
"For Shawn to make the move from tackle to guard and still get recognition is very rewarding for him," Guy said. "I think he'll be rewarded some more with the NFL Draft."
This is the third year in a row for an Aggie offensive lineman to earn second-team all-WAC honors and the 10th time in the last 12 years that a USU offensive lineman has received all-conference accolades.
Hutton, a junior linebacker from Pocatello, Idaho (Pocatello HS), ranks ninth in the WAC in tackles with 102 (8.5 pg), the most for a USU individual since Robert Watts had 118 in 2004. After missing eight games last season with a foot injury, Hutton was one of 10 linebackers in the league with over 100 tackles. Hutton is tied for fifth in the WAC in solo tackles with 58, the most solo stops for an Aggie since Jesse Busta had 64 in 2002. Hutton led USU with 16 tackles in each of the last two games. This was the second time in the last three years that Hutton has led the team in tackles after making 87 stops his freshman season of 2005.
"Jake was severely missed last season and came back to have a great year this season for us. He is a terrific ball-hawk and was among the conference's best for making solo tackles," Guy said.
Jackson, a senior quarterback/punter from Long Beach, Calif. (Long Beach Poly HS), was named the second-team punter. After leading the league statistics for most of the season, Jackson ends up tied for second, as his 41.26 average is just .04 yard behind Louisiana Tech's Chis Keagle's league-leading 41.30 average. The 40.26 average ranks Jackson tied for 47th in the NCAA. Jackson had a season-long of 62 yards, which is the third-longest in the WAC this season and had 20 percent of his punts inside the 20 with 16, along with four touchbacks.
"Leon led the league punting statistics for most of the season, which is tremendous since he didn't practice near as much as anyone else in the conference because he's also our quarterback," Guy said. "He did a terrific job for us this season at both positions."
At quarterback, Jackson set a school record this year with a 65.4 completion percentage. Jackson's 132.07 passing efficiency rating this season, is the highest for a USU QB with at least 100 attempts since 1979 when Eric Hipple had a 140.80 rating.
Jackson ended the year with 1,576 passing yards and 338 rushing yards, throwing for nine TD's and rushing for six scores. Jackson broke his own school record for rushing yards by a QB (328 in his sophomore season of 2005 that he shared with Jerod Walker, also in 2005). His six rushing TD's were the most for a USU QB since Matt Sauk had six in 1997, while his six TD's are the most for a USU individual since David Fiefia's seven rushing TD's in 2003.
Jackson's 58.2 career completion percentage is second on USU's career list, behind Keith Myers (1976-77) with 60.7. Jackson also is seventh for both total offense (5,035 yards) and career completions (382), eighth in passing yardage (4,221) and eighth in passing attempts (656).
Utah State won its last two games of the season, finishing with a 2-10 overall and 2-6 WAC ledger, matching the 2005 squad for best WAC record. The Aggies finished seventh in the league standings. Both of USU's wins this season were on the road, the most road wins since 2000 when the Aggies were 2-4 in away games. For the first time since 2003, Utah State won back-to-back conference games and the Aggies won consecutive games on the road for the first time since 1999.
The Aggies will return 18 starters (six offense, 10 defense, two special teams), after losing eight starters (five offense, one defense, two special teams) among 15 seniors this season.
2007 All-WAC Teams and Awards
Top Individual AwardsOffensive Player of the Year - Colt Brennan, Sr., QB, Hawai`iDefensive Player of the Year - Marcus Riley, Sr., LB, Fresno StateFreshman of the Year - Colin Kaepernick, QB, NevadaCoach of the Year - June Jones, Hawai`i
First TeamOffensePos-Name, School, Ht., Wt., YearWR-Jeremy Childs, Boise State, 6-0, 184, So.WR-$*Davone Bess, Hawai`i, 5-10, 195, Jr.WR-Ryan Grice-Mullen, Hawai`i, 5-11, 179, Jr.TE-Bear Pascoe, Fresno State, 6-5, 260, Jr.OL-*Ryan Clady, Boise State, 6-6, 319, Jr.OL-Ryan Wendell, Fresno State, 6-2, 260, Sr.OL-John Estes, Hawai`i, 6-2, 290, So.OL-Hercules Satele, Hawai`i, 6-2, 288, Sr.OL-%Dominic Green, Nevada, 6-3, 295, Jr.QB-*Colt Brennan, Hawai`i, 6-3, 196, Sr.RB-*Ian Johnson, Boise State, 5-11, 194, Jr.RB-Luke Lippincott, Nevada, 6-2, 215, Jr.
DefensePos-Name, School, Ht., Wt., YearDL-David Veikune, Hawai`i, 6-3, 258, Jr.DL-%Tyler Clutts, Fresno State, 6-2, 245, Sr.DL-Nick Schlekeway, Boise State, 6-4, 262, Sr.DL-%Mike Lafaele, Hawai`i, 6-0, 302, Sr.LB-Marcus Riley, Fresno State, 6-0, 220, Sr.LB-Solomon Elimimian, Hawai`i, 6-0, 224, Jr.LB-%Adam Leonard, Hawai`i, 6-0, 236, Jr.LB-*David Vobora, Idaho, 6-1, 240, Sr.LB-%Matt Castelo, San Jose State, 5-10, 228, Sr.DB-#%Marty Tadman, Boise State, 5-11, 182, Sr.DB-Antonio Baker, Louisiana Tech, 5-11, 200, So.DB-Myron Newberry, Hawai`i, 5-8, 164, Sr.DB-*Dwight Lowery, San Jose State, 6-1, 185, Sr.
SpecialistsPos-Name, School, Ht., Wt., YearPK-Dan Kelly, Hawai`i, 6-3, 202, Jr.P-Chris Keagle, Louisiana Tech, 6-0, 233, Jr.ST-Kevin Robinson, Utah State, 6-0, 192, Sr.
Second TeamOffenseWR-%Jason Rivers, Sr., Hawai`iWR-*Chris Williams, Jr., New Mexico StateWR-Kevin Jurovich, Jr., San Jose StateTE-Adam Bishop, Sr., NevadaOL-Tad Miller, Sr., Boise StateOL-Adam Korby, Sr., IdahoOL-Tyler Miller, Sr., Louisiana TechOL-Mike Martinez, Sr., New Mexico StateOL-John Booker, Sr., San Jose StateOL-Shawn Murphy, Sr., Utah StateQB-Taylor Tharp, Sr., Boise StateRB-Deonte' Jackson, Fr., IdahoRB-Patrick Jackson, Jr., Louisiana Tech
DefenseDL-Josh Muse, Sr., Louisiana TechDL-Chris Pugh, Sr., Louisiana TechDL-%Matt Hines, Sr., NevadaDL-Jarron Gilbert, Jr., San Jose StateLB-Quin Harris, Jr., Louisiana TechLB-*Ezra Butler, Sr., NevadaLB-Dante Floyd, Sr., New Mexico StateLB-Jake Hutton, Jr., Utah StateDB-Kyle Wilson, So., Boise StateDB-*Stanley Franks, Sr., IdahoDB-Shiloh Keo, So., IdahoDB-Christopher Owens, Jr., San Jose State
SpecialistsPK-Kyle Brotzman, Fr., Boise StateP-Leon Jackson III, Sr., Utah StateST-A.J. Jefferson, So., Fresno StateST-Shiloh Keo, So., Idaho
Special AwardOffensive Unit of the Year - Hawai`i: Davone Bess, Jr., WR; ColtBrennan, Sr., QB; Ryan Grice-Mullen, Jr., WR; C.J. Hawthorne, Sr., WR;and Jason Rivers, Sr., WR
*2006 First-Team All-WAC Selection%2006 Second-Team All-WAC Selection$2005 First-Team All-WAC Selection#2005 Second-Team All-WAC Selection
-USU-
