League-High 32 Football Players Earn Academic Honors

PROVO -- A league-high 32 BYU football players were named to the 2009 Fall Academic-All-Mountain West Conference Team announced Thursday. The Cougars also had a conference-best nine football student-athletes honored who previously received All-MWC recognition for on-the-field performance in 2009.

"These academic awards are a reflection of the values and priorities we embrace as a program and the hard work and dedication of our student-athletes," said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. "I congratulate those who have earned this well-deserved recognition."

Among MWC football programs, BYU led the way with 32 academic honorees, followed by Utah with 20, UNLV 17, Air Force 13, New Mexico and Wyoming 12, San Diego State 11, Colorado State 10 and TCU nine.

Nine BYU football players achieved the distinction of earning All-MWC recognition for both academic and on-the-field performance in 2009—nearly double the accomplishment of any other MWC school. Utah had five players achieve both honors, while Air Force had three and UNLV two. TCU and Wyoming each had one player earn both conference accolades.

BYU’s nine players to add academic honors to their on-the-field All-MWC recognition in 2009 include Dennis Pitta (first-team tight end), Matt Reynolds (first-team offensive lineman), Jan Jorgensen (first-team defensive lineman), Andrew George (second-team tight end), Andrew Rich (second-team defensive back), R.J. Willing (honorable-mention offensive lineman), Brett Denney (honorable-mention defensive lineman), Coleby Clawson (honorable-mention linebacker) and Scott Johnson (honorable-mention defensive back). Johnson and linebacker Matt Bauman highlight the outstanding academic achievements of BYU’s players as 2009 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-Americans.

Other football players in the conference to receive both academic and athletic recognition from the MWC in 2009 include Utah’s Zane Beadles (first-team offensive lineman), Caleb Schlauderaff (second-team offensive lineman), Zane Taylor (second-team offensive lineman), Sean Sellwood (honorable-mention punter), and Mike Wright (honorable-mention linebacker); Air Force’s Nick Charles (second-team offensive lineman), Ben Garland (second-team defensive lineman) and Chris Thomas (honorable-mention defensive back); UNLV’s Ryan Wolfe (first-team wide receiver) and Matt Murphy (honorable-mention offensive lineman); TCU’s Andy Dalton (first-team quarterback); and Wyoming’s Chris Prosinski (second-team defensive back).

Overall, BYU placed a conference-best 67 student-athletes on the fall team. In addition to football’s 32 recipients, women’s soccer (14), women’s cross country (9), men’s cross country (8) and women’s volleyball (4) each had student-athletes earn academic all-conference honors with women’s soccer leading all MWC soccer programs and men’s and women’s cross country equaling the most honorees in their respective sports.

BYU’s 67 student athletes achieving academic accolades were 17 more than any other MWC institution. New Mexico had 50 student-athletes honored, followed by Air Force and Utah (44), Wyoming (41), UNLV (39), TCU (36), Colorado State (35) and San Diego State (28).

In all, 384 student-athletes were named to the Fall 2009 Academic All-MWC Team. Fall sports include men’s and women’s cross country, football, women’s soccer and women’s volleyball. To be eligible for selection, student-athletes must have completed at least one academic term at the member institution while maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better, and be a starter or significant contributor on their athletic team.

BYU FOOTBALL 2009 FALL ACADEMIC ALL-MWC HONOREES
Nicholas Alletto, Senior 3.44 Finance 
Matthew Bauman, Senior 3.89 Finance 
Jeffrey Bell, Senior 3.71 Exercise Science 
Braden Brown, Sophomore 3.11 Undeclared 
Coleby Clawson, Senior 3.67 Exercise Science 
Brett Denney, Senior 3.59 Finance 
Corby Eason, Sophomore 3.42 Undeclared 
Jameson Frazier, Senior 3.15 English 
Ryan Freeman, Junior 3.45 Psychology 
Romney Fuga, Sophomore 3.16 Undeclared 
Andrew George, Senior 3.30 Finance 
Braden Hansen, Sophomore 3.14 Undeclared 
Shane Hunter, Senior 3.45 Exercise Science 
McKay Jacobson, Sophomore 3.45 Pre-Management Core 
Landon Jaussi, Senior 3.15 General Business 
Scott Johnson, Senior 3.82 Exercise Science 
Jan Jorgensen, Senior 3.26 Social Science 
Bryan Kariya, Senior 3.88 Chinese 
Parker Mangum, Senior 3.30 General Business 
Ezekial Mendenhall, Senior 3.67 Exercise & Wellness 
Joseph Morgan, Blake Sophomore 3.01 Pre-Management Core 
Grant Nelson, Senior 3.97 Economics 
Mark Ogletree, Brandon Junior 3.54 Undeclared 
Mitchell Payne, Senior 3.53 Public Administration 
B.J. Peterson, Senior 3.20 Civil Engineering 
Dennis Pitta, Senior 3.23 Facility & Property Management 
Matthew Reynolds, Senior 3.18 Home & Family Living 
Andrew Rich, Junior 3.22 Psychology 
Jordan Richardson, Sophomore 3.30 Undeclared 
Brett Thompson, Freshman 3.36 Undeclared 
Marco Thorson, Senior 3.33 Entrepreneurship 
Richard Willing, Senior 3.31 Recreation Management & Youth Leadership