Boise State, San Diego State lead the way on Athlon Sports all-conferences teams

It is now officially magazine season for the upcoming college football season with them all hitting the news stands this week. We already looked at Phil Steele’s preseason predictions for the all-conference team, but now we take a look at Athlon’s preseason choices.

They are high on the likely preseason choices in San Diego State and Boise State with six players making their first team list and followed by Colorado State and Wyoming with three first-team members a piece.

There are not too many differences between Phil Steele’s and Athlon’s preseason teams. The quarterback position has the same first-, second-, and third-team members in Brett Rypien of Boise State, Utah State’s Kent Myers and then Colorado State’s Nick Stevens. The fourth team for Athlon seems more accurate as they go with San Jose State’s Kenny Potter over Steele who goes with UNLV’s Johnny Stanton.

One player that Athlon is extremely high on his Air Force running back Timothy McVey as they list him as a second team running back while he is left off of Steele’s. McVey has the potential to be what former San Jose State running back Tyler Ervin for Air Force. He finds the end zone, catches passes, runs well and returns kicks.

The offensive line varies on both but to predict how good a lineman can be on the offensive side of the ball is tricky unless a player is a clear NFL prospect. Athlon favors Colorado State while Steele gives favorable reviews for the Utah State line.

One other discrepancy is Hawaii’s defensive lineman Kennedy Tulimasealii. He is listed on the first-team for Athlon and he has the talent to do so but he is currently suspended from the football team after being arrested twice in April. He has first-team talent but with his status unclear, Steele erred on the side of him not playing.

The official Mountain West all-conference teams will be announced when media days occur in Las Vegas on July 26 and 27.