July 17, 2006

CORONADO, Calif. -

UNLV football had three players selected to the official preseason All-Mountain West Conference team and the Rebels were picked to finish eighth, the league announced Monday from its annual MWC Media Days gathering.

Junior linebacker Beau Bell and junior defensive back Eric Wright represented the Rebels on the defensive side of the ball while junior place-kicker Sergio Aguayo earned specialist honors. Aguayo, who kicked two game-winning field goals last year, was also selected as the league's preseason Special Teams Player of the Year.

"It's a great start to have three guys on the preseason all-conference team and it is real positive to have two people on defense, especially a newcomer in (USC transfer cornerback) Eric Wright," head coach Mike Sanford said. "Sergio is one of the best kickers in the nation and obviously people in this conference recognize that."

BYU quarterback John Beck was named Preseason MWC Offensive Player of the Year, Utah defensive back Eric Weddle was selected Defensive Player of the Year and McKay Jacobson of BYU was tabbed MWC Freshman of the Year.

TCU was selected to win the 2006 MWC title in the poll of media members. BYU was chosen second with 192 points and five first-place votes and Utah was third with 188 points and three first-place votes. Colorado State was the fourth team to receive a first-place vote and finished fourth in the poll with 130 points. New Mexico was chosen fifth with 119 points, followed by San Diego State (6th - 104 points), Air Force (7th - 70 points), UNLV (8th - 58 points) and Wyoming (9th - 51 points).

"Obviously I am not happy with it," Sanford said about being selected eighth. "It's not where I see us but it is the cold reality after what we did last year (2-9 overall). It's based mainly on what we did last year and I have much higher expectations than where we are picked to finish."

UNLV opens its season on Sept. 2 by hosting Idaho State at 7 p.m. Single-game and season tickets are on sale now by calling (702) 739-FANS, or logging onto www.unlvtickets.com.

2006 Mountain West Conference Preseason Poll

Rk.    Team (first place votes)    Points1.  TCU (16)            2132.  BYU (5)             1923.  Utah (3)            1884.  Colorado State (1)      1305.  New Mexico      1196.  San Diego State         1047.  Air Force       708.   UNLV            589.  Wyoming         51

2006 Preseason All-Mountain West Team

OffenseWR  Brian Hernandez Sr. UtahWR  Johnny Walker Jr. Colorado StateOL  Robert Turner Sr. New MexicoOL  Jake Kuresa** Sr. BYUOL  Herbert Taylor* Sr. TCUOL  Tavo Tupola** Sr. UtahOL  Jason Boone Jr. UtahTE  Jonny Harline* Sr. BYUQB  John Beck* Sr. BYURB  Curtis Brown* Sr. BYURB  Kyle Bell** Jr. Colorado State
DefenseDL  Tommy Blake* Jr. TCUDL  Chase Ortiz Jr. TCUDL  Gilberto Perez Sr. Air ForceDL  Jesse Nading Jr. Colorado StateDL  Antwan Applewhite Jr. San Diego StateLB  Cameron Jensen** Sr. BYULB  Beau Bell** Jr. UNLVLB  Jason Phillips So. TCUDB  Eric Weddle* Sr. UtahDB  John Wendling Sr. WyomingDB  Marvin White Sr. TCUDB  Eric Wright Jr. UNLV
SpecialistsP   Jimmie Kaylor Jr. Colorado StatePK  Sergio Aguayo Jr. UNLVRet.    Brent Casteel So. Utah

Offensive Player of the Year: John Beck, Sr., BYUDefensive Player of the Year: Eric Weddle, Sr., UtahSpecial Teams Player of the Year: Sergio Aguayo, Jr., UNLVFreshman of the Year: McKay Jacobson, BYU

* member of the 2005 All-Mountain West Conference first-team. ** member of the 2005 All-Mountain West Conference second-team.