Juju Hughes, Jared Rice and Mykal Walker continue to earn preseason attention ahead of their senior seasons.
Hughes and Rice have each been named to two national award watch lists, while Walker has been named to three. This time, the Mountain West is recognizing them.
The conference announced the 2019 Preseason All-Mountain West Football Team Tuesday at the league’s annual media days in Las Vegas.
Out of the 25 players selected to the team, 16 of them were All-Mountain West selections last season.
Seniors make up the bulk of the team, with 14 selections, while there were nine juniors and two sophomores chosen.
Walker was named to the All-Mountain West first team in 2018, while Hughes and Rice both made the second team.
The league also announced the player of the year selections. Utah State junior quarterback Jordan Love is the Preseason Mountain West Offensive Player of the year, and Boise State junior defensive lineman Curtis Weaver is the Preseason Defensive Player of the year. The Preseason Special Teams player of the year is Wyoming senior kicker Cooper Rothe.
Love, a Bakersfield native, lead Utah State to an 11-win season and threw for 3,567 yards and 32 touchdowns.
Weaver ranks second in the nation with 20.5 career sacks and has earned first-team all-conference honors in each of his first two seasons.
Rothe was the Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year last season, and he was a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, which is presented to the best kicker in college football. He led the nation in field goal percentage at 94.1 percent, which is a single-season conference record.
2019 MOUNTAIN WEST FOOTBALL PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Offense
- QB – Jordan Love, Jr., Utah State**
- WR – John Hightower, Sr., Boise State
- WR – Cedric Byrd II, Sr., Hawai‘i
- RB – Juwan Washington, Sr., San Diego State
- RB – Toa Taua, So., Nevada
- OL – Ezra Cleveland, Jr., Boise State*
- OL – John Molchon, Sr., Boise State*
- OL – Jake Nelson, Sr., Nevada
- OL – Keith Ismael, Jr., San Diego State
- OL – Justin Polu, Sr., UNLV
- TE – Jared Rice, Sr., Fresno State**
Defense
- DL – Jordan Jackson, Jr., Air Force**
- DL – David Moa, Sr., Boise State*
- DL – Curtis Weaver, Jr., Boise State
- DL Tipa Galeai, Sr., Utah State**
- LB Mykal Walker, Sr., Fresno State*
- LB Kyahva Tezino* Sr. San Diego State
- LB David Woodward ** Jr. Utah State
- DB Jeremy Fejedelem Sr. Air Force
- DB Juju Hughes** Sr. Fresno State
- DB Tariq Thompson** Jr. San Diego State
- DB DJ Williams So. Utah State
Specialists
- P Ryan Stonehouse* Jr. Colorado State
- PK Cooper Rothe* Sr. Wyoming
- KR/PR Savon Scarver* Jr. Utah State
* – member of the 2018 All-Mountain West first team
** – member of the 2018 All-Mountain West second team
