Brigham Young University running back Luke Staley has been named the Mountain West Conference's Offensive Player of the Year and BYU's Gary Crowton the league's Coach of the Year in annual football honors released by the conference Wednesday morning.
Staley, who fractured his leg in late in Saturday's victory at Mississippi State and who will miss the regular-season finale at Hawaii this Saturday, rushed for a school season-record 1,582 yards and scored 28 touchdowns, another BYU record. A junior, he is a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, which will be announced Thursday.
In his inaugural season at BYU, Crowton has led the Cougars to 12 consecutive victories, a conference championship, rankings in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Top 10 and a spot in the Bowl Championship Series rankings.
UNLV swept the other top two MWC individual awards, with defensive back Kevin Thomas named the top defensive player and running back/return specialist Dominique Dorsey the top freshman.
BYU and the University of Utah placed a combined 12 players on the MWC first team — nearly half of the 25 receiving honors in the voting by the conference's eight head coaches and members of the media.
The Cougars had five players earn first-team all-conference honors on offense and another three first-teamers on defense. Joining Staley on offense were senior quarterback Brandon Doman, junior receiver Reno Mahe, senior tight end Doug Jolley and senior offensive lineman Jason Scukanec.
Staley and Doman were the only unanimous selections on the MWC first-team offensive squad.
Three BYU players earned first-team honors on defense: senior defensive lineman Ryan Denney, senior linebacker Justin Ena and sophomore defensive back Jernaro Gilford.
Three of Utah's first-team selections came on defense: junior defensive linemen Garrett Smith, sophomore defensive lineman Jason Kaufusi and junior linebacker Sheldon Deckart.
Joining them on the first team was senior Ute offensive lineman Doug Kaufusi, who earned first-team honors for the second time in his career.
Others named to the Mountain West's first-team offense were: Wyoming receiver Ryan McGuffey, San Diego State running back Larry Ned, SDSU lineman David Moreno, Colorado State lineman David Shohet, Wyoming lineman Adam Goldberg, New Mexico placekicker Vladimir Borombozin, and CSU return specialist Pete Rebstock.
Rounding out the MWC first-team defense: Thomas, New Mexico lineman Brian Johnson, New Mexico linebacker Gary Davis, SDSU defensive back Will Demps, UNLV defensive back Sam Brandon and CSU punter Joey Huber.
Rebstock, Johnson and Demps are two-year first-team honorees.
Utah placed a pair of players each on the second-team offense and defense: wide receiver Cliff Russell, running back Dameon Hunter, defensive lineman Lauvale Sape and defensive back Antwoine Sanders.
Only one BYU player received second-team honors: offensive lineman Ben Archibald.
Earning honorable-mention honor for BYU were punter Aaron Edmonds, defensive lineman Brett Keisel; linebackers Isaac Kelley and Paul Walkenhorst; defensive backs Levi Madarieta and Dustin Staley; offensive linemen Aaron McCubbins, Dustin Rykert and Teag Whiting; tight end Spencer Nead; and kick returner Mike Rigell.
Utes named honorable mention included offensive linemen Jordan Gross, Dustin McQuivey and Ed Ta'amu; defensive lineman Ma'ak Kemoeatu; punter Brian Lewis; wide receiver Josh Lyman; defensive back Arnold Parker; tight end Michael Richardson; punt returner Morgan Scalley; and running back Adam Tate.