Members of the media in the Mountain West Conference footprint met in Las Vegas this week to try and predict what will happen this next football season.

The Boise State Broncos tallied all 22 first place votes to win the Mountain Division with the Wyoming Cowboys picked to finish second. Colorado State, Utah State, Air Force and New Mexico rounded out the media selections.

Fresno State picked up 16 first place votes and were selected to win the West division. San Diego State had the other six votes and finished second. UNLV, Nevada, Hawaii and San Jose State filled out the rest of the division.

Individually, the Cowboys put three players on the 1st Team Defensive unit with DE Carl Granderson, DT Youhanna Ghaifan and S Andrew Wingard tabbed to their respective positions. In addition, Wingard was named the MWC Pre-season Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season. The Wyoming senior has been ranked the top returning safety in the country by multiple media outlets and with another good season should set a new conference record for career tackles.

Granderson and Wingard were named to the Bednarik Award watch list. Wingard was also named to the Jim Thorpe watch list. Ghaifan is on the Outland Trophy watch list for top interior linemen.

On the offensive side of the ball, Boise State’s Brett Rypien was named the MWC Preseason Player of the Year. Rypien is the nation’s top returning career yardage leader. The Broncos also had running back Alexander Mattison on the team as well as a pair of offensive linemen in Ezra Cleveland and John Molchon.

Avery Williams was named the Special Teams Player of the Year for BSU as well.

2018 MWC Pre-season Picks
Mountain Division
1 – Boise State (22)
2- Wyoming
3- Colorado State
4- Utah State
5- Air Force
6- New Mexico

West Division
1- Fresno State (16)
2- San Diego State (6)
3- UNLV
4- Nevada
5- Hawai’i
6- San Jose State

All-Conference Offense
QB – Brett Rypien, Boise St.
WR – K. Johnson – Fresno St.
WR – McLane Mannix – Nevada
RB – Alex Mattison – Boise St.
RB Lexington Thomas – UNLV
OL – Ezra Cleveland – Boise St.
OL – John Molchon – Boise St.
OL – Aron Jenkins – UNM
OL – Keith Ismael – SDSU
OL – Tyler Roemer – SDSU
TE – Dax Raymond – Utah St.

All-Conference Defense
DL – David Moa – Boise St.
DL – Curtin Weaver – Boise St.
DL – Youhanna Ghaifan – UW
DL- Carl Granderson – UW
LB – Jeffrey Allison – Fresno St.
LB – Jahlani Tavai – Hawai’i
LB- Malik Reed – Nevada
DB – Tyler Horton – Boise St.
DB – Tariq Thompson – SDSU
DB – Dameon Barber – Nevada
DB – Andrew Wingard – UW

Specialists
P – Ryan Stonehouse – CSU
PK – Dominik Eberle – Utah St.
Ret. – Avery Williams – Boise St.