BYU Players Receive All-Independent Honors

Several BYU players were named to two different All-Independent Teams following the Cougars' 9-3 regular season campaign. Seventeen different players have been honored, including freshman wide receiver Ross Apo who was named a 2011 College Football News Freshman All-America honorable mention and the Yahoo! Sports Independent Freshman of the Year.

Head coach Bronco Mendenhall also received Coach of the Year honors from Yahoo! Sports.

Phil Steele and Yahoo! Sports both released their All-Independent Teams recently, with BYU well represented. The Cougars had eight players named to the Yahoo! Sports All-Independent Team and 16 players with 17 total selections on the Phil Steele All-Independent First and Second Teams. BYU had nine selections on the first team and eight on the second team.

Apo started the season strong and finished even stronger. The freshman from Texas caught a touchdown pass in each of the first three games and closed the season with two touchdowns in each of the last two contests. Apo finished the season with 34 receptions, 453 yards and a team-leading nine touchdowns.

Despite limited action to start the season, quarterback Riley Nelson was named to both teams, including a first-team selection from Phil Steele. Nelson emerged as BYU's starter following the Utah State game where he led the Cougars to a come-from-behind victory with two late touchdown drives. The junior from Logan finished the season 5-1 as a starter, including recently defeating Hawaii with a career-high 363 passing yards and three touchdown passes. Nelson finished the regular season completing 99 of 162 passes for 1,467 yards and 16 touchdowns with 376 rushing yards and one touchdown on 75 attempts.