July 31, 2001
LAS VEGAS -- After being picked anywhere from second to fifth in most of the major preseason magazines, media covering the third-annual Mountain West Conference football kickoff have selected San Diego State to finish fourth in this year's league race.
The Aztecs, who tied for fifth last year with a 3-4 conference mark, received one first-place vote.
Defending conference champion Colorado State garnered the anticipated top spot with 11 first-place votes.
UNLV, with four votes, was picked to finish second, with Brigham Young rounding out the top three spots in third.
Individually, four Aztecs were tabbed to the league's preseason team. Senior David Moreno, a 2000 second-team all-conference selection, teamed with classmate Larry Ned on the offensive side of the ball. Receiving the nod on defense were senior linebacker Jomar Butler, the Aztecs' team MVP from a year ago, and 2000 first-team all-MWC choice senior safety Will Demps.
San Diego State opens its 2001 season at home versus Arizona on Thursday, Aug. 30th. The game, which will be televised live nationally on ESPN2, is scheduled for a 7:05 p.m. kickoff.
2001 Mountain West Conference Preseason Poll
Team PointsColorado State (11) 130UNLV (4) 118BYU (1) 91San Diego State (1) 74Air Force 63Utah 55New Mexico 54Wyoming 18(First Place Votes in parentheses)
2001 Preseason All-Mountain West Team
OffenseWR Ryan Fleming* Sr Air Force.WR Pete Rebstock* Sr Colorado StateOL David Moreno Sr San Diego StateOL Ben Miller Sr Air ForceOL Broc Finlayson Sr Colorado StateOL Jason Scukenec Sr BYUOL Doug Kaufusi* Sr UtahTE Jose Ochoa* Sr Colorado StateQB Jason Thomas Jr UNLVRB Larry Ned Sr San Diego StateRB Cecil Sapp* Jr Colorado State
DefenseDL Brian Johnson* Sr New MexicoDL Anton Palepoi* Sr UNLVDL Garrett Smith Jr UtahDL Justin Pendry Sr Air ForceLB Jomar Butler Sr San Diego StateLB Justin Ena* Sr BYULB David Vickers Jr Colorado StateDB Will Demps* Sr San Diego StateDB Kevin Thomas* Sr UNLVDB Aaron Sprague Sr Colorado StateDB Stephen Persley Sr New Mexico
SpecialistsP Aaron Edmonds* Sr BYUPK V. Borombozin Sr New MexicoPR Troy Mason Jr UNLVKR Pete Rebstock* Sr Colorado StateKR Dallas Davis Sr Colorado State
* member of the 2000 All-Mountain West Conference first-team.