Brian Hill, as well as his teammates Chase Roullier and Andrew Wingard, were named to the Mountain West pre-season all-conference team today. (Photo via Michael Smith, UW)
A trio of Cowboys were named to the preseason All-Mountain West team today. The Mountain West media days are currently underway from the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. The team, which was selected by the media members of the Mountain West, picked the players they felt would be the biggest impact to the conference this season. The three Cowboys, Chase Roullier, Brian Hill, and Andrew Wingard are no strangers to success on the field. Despite the 2-10 season the Cowboys endured last year the media felt there were players good enough to earn their way to the team.
Brian Hill, the Cowboys running back who amassed 1631 yards rushing last season was second in the Mountain West, 22 yards behind the leader Donnel Pumphrey from San Diego State. Pumphrey was also selected to the All-Mountain West team. The junior from Belleville, Illinois will be looking to top that rushing number from last season. Hill has been named to the Maxwell Award watch list, as well as the Doak Walker Award watch list. Last season Hill was named to the second team All-Mountain West team after his performance.
Chase Roullier, a senior from Savage, Minnesota, is no stranger to Mountain West all-conference teams. He has earned a place on the All-Mountain West teams each of the past two seasons. This season he has earned a spot to the pre-season All-Mountain West team. He has also been named to the Outland Trophy Award watch list as well. Last season Roullier was selected as the top guard in the country according to Pro Football Focus. With that he also graded out as the ninth best offensive or defensive lineman in the country.
Andrew Wingard, a sophomore from Arvada, Colorado came in as a true freshman and turned in one of the best performances a Cowboy has had. Wingard finished last season with 122 tackles. That was good enough for second in the Mountain West and 12th in the NCAA. He averaged more than ten tackles per game. Seven times last season Wingard had double digit tackles in a game. Wingard has been named to the Jim Thorpe Award watch list.
The all-conference team in its complete form below:
Offense
QB Brett Rypien So. Boise State
WR Thomas Sperbeck Sr. Boise State
WR Devonte Boyd Jr. UNLV
RB Brian Hill Jr. Wyoming
RB Donnel Pumphrey Sr. San Diego State
OL Chase Roullier Sr. Wyoming
OL Fred Zerblis Sr. Colorado State
OL Nico Siragusa Sr. San Diego State
OL Jake Simonich Sr. Utah State
OL Austin Stephens Sr. Utah State
TE Billy Freeman Sr. San José State
Defense
DL Nik D’Avanzo Sr. New Mexico
DL Alex Barrett Sr. San Diego State
DL Travis Seefeldt Gr. Utah State
DL Ricky Ali’ifua Sr. Utah State
LB Christian Tago Sr. San José State
LB Calvin Munson Sr. San Diego State
LB Dakota Cox Sr. New Mexico
DB Andrew Wingard So. Wyoming
DB Weston Steelhammer Sr. Air Force
DB Damontae Kazee Sr. San Diego State
DB Dameon Baber So. Nevada
Specialists
P Hayden Hunt Sr. Colorado State
Michael Carrizosa Jr. San José State
PK Tyler Rausa Sr. Boise State
Ret. Rashaad Penny Jr. San Diego State
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year:
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year:
Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year:
The Mountain West also revealed their pre-season standings and the Cowboys were picked to finish sixth in the Mountain division. The Cowboys also received the lowest number of votes of any of the 13 Mountain West teams. The Cowboys obviously have a large hill to climb this season and should have a chip on their shoulders when they open the season on September 3rd against Northern Illinois in War Memorial Stadium.