PROVO — The Mountain West honor roll threw a bone to BYU's offense but tossed some second-team recognition to players on a Cougar defense that struggled with injuries and personnel issues this past season.
Quarterback John Beck and running back Curtis Brown joined tight end Jonny Harline on the MWC first-team offense. Linebacker Cameron Jensen, defensive tackle Manaia Brown and offensive linemen Jake Kuresa and Lance Reynolds made the MWC second-team list. Linebacker Justin Luettengrodt received honorable mention.
Bronco Mendenhall, whose 6-5 Cougars are headed for the Las Vegas Bowl for a Dec. 22 matchup with Cal, praised his players for recognition, but two Cougar leaders on offense thought BYU blockers should have received a higher level of recognition. BYU's offensive line may have been the best since 2001.
"I think the players who received first-team honors from our team were deserving and those who received second-team honors were deserving of those also," Mendenhall said.
Said Beck: "I'm happy, but the biggest things are wins. I still feel like I should have done better this year. For me, the goals I had for myself I didn't quite meet them. The goals I had, and the team had, weren't totally met. The biggest thing on my mind now is knowing we have a chance to have a great game against Cal.
Beck, a junior, led the conference in completions per game (26) and passing yards (3,357). He completed 296 of 460 passes (64.3 percent) with 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Beck finished the regular season avoiding an interception in his last 135 attempts or 12 quarters, dating back to the first half of the Air Force game.
Beck is the first BYU quarterback to earn MWC first-team honors since his coach, Brandon Doman, in 2001. The 60 completions for 517 yards in an overtime loss to MWC champion TCU were season highs for Beck and BYU.
"I was pretty mad about that (no BYU offensive linemen on the first team)," Beck said. "I love the guys I have in front of me. I'd put any of them against anybody. The linemen situation is probably the toughest one to decide because there aren't any statistics to determine who should be there. But I was pretty disappointed that some of our guys didn't get selected because they should have been up there."
Harline's entrance on the Division I scene ended up a positive impact for the Cougars. Harline posted the top tight-end numbers in the league in his first season. Harline had 56 catches for 780 yards, four touchdowns, 5.09 catches per game and 13.95 yards per catch. He averaged 70 yards per game receiving and ranked 50th nationally.
Harline caught 10 passes in a win over New Mexico and took over top pass-catching duties from senior Todd Watkins. While Watkins, had eight TD catches to Harline's four, Harline had 56 catches to Watkins' 44, for 155 more yards.
"Jonny had a great season and did a lot of things for us," Beck said.
Brown, a junior, gave the league's offensive player of the year, New Mexico's DonTrell Moore a run for the honor as the league's top rusher, particularly the last two-thirds of the season. Whereas Brown was used sparingly as a runner in BYU losses to Boston College and San Diego State, a combined 14 carries, Moore was a workhorse for New Mexico. Brown ended up with a better average per carry than Moore (5.53 to 4.72) while scoring just as many touchdowns (14).
Moore had a whopping 77 more carries than Brown, 275 to 198. Brown finished his junior year as a Cougar with 1,095 yards rushing and 409 receiving for 1,509 all-purpose yards. Brown's top game came against Air Force, gaining 219 yards. His longest run of the year was a 64-yarder against Utah.
"Curtis got the ball in the end zone when we needed it," Beck said. "He was a playmaker. I don't know how the voting went, but I wouldn't be surprised if Curtis was right behind DonTrell for player of the year. That's the way I see it, looking at Curtis' all-purpose yards."
Brown acknowledged his honor but also wondered about BYU's line. "It feels good, but it's an award I didn't get on my own," Brown said.
"There's so many people to thank. That basically represents our team and the effort we've put in this year.
"I looked at the list and none of our offensive linemen were on the first team. I was a little disappointed in that. My offensive linemen are all-America in my eyes, and that's all that matters. But it's not a big deal. We still have to go out and play a bowl game and get a victory."
Contributing: Jeff Call
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com