The Mountain West Connection All-MWC 2018 Preseason Team

It’s Media Days week!!! That is the unofficial start to the football season. It’s a great time to get hyped about your team and start getting nuggets of football news. Here at MWCConnection, we are getting involved in the fun by releasing our own pre-season content.

The official MWC media team will be released at Media Days this week. However, we are getting ahead of the game by debuting our preseason All-MWC team today. Members of our team submitted a list and we took the top vote getters at each position to form our team. Since offensive formations are so different, we put 2 RBs and 2 WRs on the team, plus a FLEX, which can either a RB or WR. Defensive, we just use a traditional 4-3 for its positions. For special teams, we have a kicker, punter, and returner. For reference, here was our post-season 2017 team from December.

Disclaimer: There are lots of great players in the conference and only so many spots. Arguments can be made for many guys to be mentioned or on a higher team. There will always be snubs. Always. Try to treat this list as a group of guys who are for the most part deserving but it’s not as inclusive as it should be. There are other deserving players as well, but everyone who made it is deserving.

With that being said, here is the 2018 Mountain West Connection All-MWC Preseason Team:

First Team:

Quarterback

• Brett Rypien (Boise State)

Running Back

• Lexington Thomas (UNLV)
• Juwan Washington (San Diego State)

Wide Receivers

• KeeSean Johnson (Fresno State)
• McLane Mannix (Nevada)

Flex

• John Ursua (Hawaii)

Tight End

• Dax Raymond (Utah State)

Offensive Line

• Ezra Cleveland (Boise State)
• Kieth Ismael (San Diego State)
• Micah St. Andrew (Fresno State)
• Sean Krepsz (Nevada)
• Aaron Jenkins (New Mexico)

Defensive Line

• Carl Granderson (Wyoming)
• Curtis Weaver (Boise State)
• Youhanna Ghaifan (Wyoming)
• David Moa (Boise State)

Linebackers

• Jeffrey Allison (Fresno State)
• Logan Wilson (Wyoming)
• Jahlani Tavai (Hawaii)

Cornerbacks

• Tyler Horton (Boise State)
• Jaron Bryant (Fresno State)

Safeties

• Tariq Thompson (San Diego State)
• Andrew Wingard (Wyoming)

Kicker

• K Dominik Eberle (Utah State)

Punter

P Ryan Stonehouse (Colorado State)

Returner

• Avery Williams (Boise State)

Second Team:

Quarterback

• Ty Gangi (Nevada)

Running Back

• Alexander Mattison (Boise State)
• Kelton Moore (Nevada)

Wide Receivers

• Olabisi Johnson (Colorado State)
• Brendan O’Leary-Orange (Nevada)

Flex

• Tyrone Owens (New Mexico)

Tight End

• Josh Oliver (San Jose State)

Offensive Line

• Tyler Roemer (San Diego State)
• Netane Muti (Fresno State)
• Gavin Rush (Wyoming)
• Quin Ficklin (Utah State)
• Logan Harris (Wyoming)

Defensive Line

• Noble Hall (San Diego State)
• Jabril Frazier (Boise State)
• Owen Roberts (San Jose State)
• Richard King (Colorado State)

Linebackers

• Malik Reed (Nevada)
• Ronley Lakalaka (San Diego State)
• Solomon Matautia (Hawaii)

Cornerbacks

• Rojesterman Farris (Hawaii)
• Ron Smith (San Diego State)

Safeties

• Juju Hughes (Fresno State)
• Dameon Barber (Nevada)

Kicker

• Wyatt Bryan (Colorado State)

Punter

• Aaron Dalton (Utah State)

Returner

• Juwan Washington (San Diego State)

Breakdown by team:

• San Diego State: 8 (Counting Washington two times)
• Boise State: 8
• Nevada: 7
• Fresno State: 6
• Wyoming: 6
• Utah State: 4
• Hawaii: 4
• Colorado State: 4
• New Mexico: 2
• San Jose State: 2
• UNLV: 1

Notes:

• There are tough decisions as always. In particular, the linebackers seem to be one of the deepest positions in the conference.
• Malik Reed being put on the second team was an especially tough choice. He’s been a two-time all conference performer, but is moving from DE to LB this season. The unknown of a new position was the difference maker, along with the strength of the LBs on the first team.
• Similarly, Juwan Washington was a touch call. Although ended up on the first team even though this is his first year as a starter and it was difficult to gauge him. He gets the benefit of the doubt in the Aztecs system for producing great running backs.
• The team was pretty split on positions like cornerback and the offensive line. On the flip side, first team wide receiver, the quarterbacks, as well as first team tight end and first team defensive line were all positions the team was pretty much in agreement with.
• The 2nd team wide receiver spots were tough, as there were one or two more who were considered there. Same with 2nd team FLEX, as the tie-breaker went to Owens, who we thought would rack up stats in a run-heavy scheme.
• As the breakdown by team shows, the teams at the top of the standings last year have the most players appear on this list. It was no surprised to see San Diego State, Boise State, Fresno State and Wyoming appear most frequently. Nevada was a bit of a surprise seeing seven players on the list, but those seven are certainly some of the better players in the MWC.

There it is. So let’s hear it. Who did we snub? Who did we put on here that shouldn’t be? Let’s hear you feedback in the comments section.

Coming tomorrow: Our pre-season awards picks and picks for division standings and conference champion.