Wingard, Granderson and Ghaifan Lead Wyoming’s All-MW Honors
Seven Wyoming Cowboy football players received All-Mountain West honors, as the league released its 2017 All-Conference Football Team Wednesday.
For the first time since the inception of the Mountain West in 1999, UW had three players named First Team All-MW on defense. Junior safety Andrew Wingard earned First Team All-Conference honors for a second straight year. For the first time, junior defensive end Carl Granderson and sophomore defensive tackle Youhanna Ghaifan earned First Team All-MW accolades.
Two more Cowboy defenders received Second Team All-Conference recognition. Sophomore middle linebacker Logan Wilson and senior cornerback Rico Gafford. Wilson earned an honor for the second consecutive season, after he was named the MW Freshman of the Year in 2016. This is the first accolade for Gafford.
The final honors came via Honorable Mention All-MW for junior quarterback Josh Allen and sophomore kick return specialist Tyler Hall. Allen was a Second Team honoree last season, while this is the first recognition for Hall.
The 2017 All-MW team was voted on by the league’s 12 head coaches and media members that cover the conference.
San Diego State senior Rashad Penny was named the MW Offensive and Special Teams Player of the Year. Defensive Player of the Year honors went to Boise State junior linebacker Leighton Vander Esch. The Freshman of the Year was UNLV QB Armani Rogers. Fresno State’s Jeff Tedford was selected the 2017 MW Coach of the Year.