Five Aggies named All-MW, three to first team
The Mountain West released its All-Conference teams on Wednesday, honoring the best players of the regular season. Three Utah State football players were selected to the first team, two to the second team with five honorable mentions.
Return specialist and reigning All-American, Savon Scarver, garnered the first-team selection as a kick returner for the second year in a row. Dominik Eberle finally broke through to the first team in his senior season as a placekicker. And even though linebacker David Woodward missed the final five games of the season, he still made the first team, his first career All-Conference honor.
Scarver set a new record at Utah State during the season with his fourth and fifth career kick-return touchdowns. Both were 100-plus yard returns, coming against Colorado State and Nevada. Both also erased opponents leads with his touchdown against CSU tying the game at 7-7 after the Rams’ opening touchdown and the return against Nevada giving USU a 7-3 lead in the first quarter.
Across the nation, Scarver is one of just nine players with multiple kick return touchdowns, being tied for second with seven other players who have two such return TDs. Of 68 qualified kick returners, Scarver ranked sixth in the nation in return average (29.3).
Eberle broke multiple career records during the season and not just Utah State marks. He became the all-time leading scorer in Utah State history, eclipsing Robert Turbin (308) in week eight and currently has 348. The senior kicker later broke former Utah kicker Louie Sakoda’s Mountain West career field goals record (57) in week 10. Eberle now has 62 career field goals to his name. Three times this season Eberle was named Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Week.
Despite the five games missed, Woodward remains Utah State’s leading tackler at the end of the regular season (though Troy Lefeged Jr. and Kevin Meitzenheimer may pass him in the coming bowl game). He had 93 total tackles, including 53 solo stops, plus 5.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, four forced fumbles one of which he returned himself for a touchdown. Before he was benched for the season with an unspecified injury, Woodward was on pace to set the new single-season tackles record, currently held by Tony D’Amato (170). Woodward was on pace for nearly 173 (for a 13-game season) at 13.3 tackles per game.
Moving on to the second team, Mariner caught 56 passes this season for 874 yards, fifth-most among Aggies since 2000. His eight receiving touchdowns are also fifth-most at USU since 2000, tied with Kevin Robinson (2005) and Ron’Quavion Tarver (2018). If Mariner tallies 126 receiving yards in Utah State’s bowl game, he’d become the 11th Aggie all-time to have 1,000-plus such yards in a single season (the last player to do it was Kevin Curtis in 2002).
Galeai ended the season as Utah State’s sixth leading tackler (48) though he led the team in tackles for loss (8.5) and sacks (5.0). In the latter category, Galeai was tied for fifth in the Mountain West. One of his most impactful performances came in Utah State’s week three road win over San Diego State. The senior edge rusher had four tackles, 3.0 for loss along with a sack. He also had 2.0 TFLs and 2.0 sacks in the regular season finale at New Mexico.
In addition to the five overall first and second team selections, five Aggies were given honorable mention — Shaq Bond (DB), Gerold Bright (RB), Jordan Love (QB), Caleb Repp (TE), Christopher Unga (DL).
Twitter: @thejwalk67