Colorado State University Athletics
Rams place 15 on All-Mountain West teams
12/2/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – On Tuesday morning the Mountain West announced its all-conference selections and four Rams earned first-team honors. Seniors Garrett Grayson (QB) and Ty Sambrailo (OL), junior Steven Walker (TE) and sophomore Rashard Higgins (WR) were all named to the Mountain West’s first team.
Senior linebacker Aaron Davis and junior running back Dee Hart earned second-team recognition, while nine Rams received honorable mention: Bernard Blake (DB), Max Morgan (LB), Jared Roberts (K), Cory James (LB), Joe Kawulok (DE), Trent Matthews (DB), Kevin Pierre-Louis (DB), Hayden Hunt (P) and Fred Zerblis (OL).
“This really speaks to the kind of positive attention that comes when a team is able to achieve some success like we have been able to do this year,” said head coach Jim McElwain. “It takes everybody in the program working together, and I just can’t say enough about that way this coaching staff and these players have given of themselves for the betterment of those around them. It’s a great honor for Colorado State University.”
Grayson, Higgins and Walker are all earning their first all-conference recognition while Sambrailo is earning his first first-team honor, but his second all-conference nod after being named second-team All-MW in 2013.
Grayson, who was also named the 2014 Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year and is a Heisman Trophy aspirant, has captured every career record in Colorado State history this season, and has already broken his own single-season records for passing yards (3,779) and passing touchdowns (32) with a bowl game remaining to be played. He ranks in the top seven among all FBS quarterbacks in 2014 in nearly every significant statistical category entering today’s games.
Sambrailo, a Rotary Lombardi preseason candidate, has graded out above 90-percent in all nine games he has played while racking up over 50 knockdown blocks, and hasn’t allowed a sack. The senior from Watsonville, Calif., has helped lead a Rams offense which is on pace for a school record 497.8 yards of total offense per game.
Walker, a first-year tight end who transferred from Butler County CC, has hauled in 29 receptions for 277 yards and four touchdowns. Walker burst onto the scene after a six-catch 67-yard performance at Boston College, earning honorable mention John Mackey Award Tight End of the Week.
In 2014, Higgins, who is a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, leads all FBS receivers with 1,640 receiving yards, 17 receiving touchdowns and 149.1 receiving yards per game. The native of Mesquite, Texas, set the CSU record for consecutive games with at least 100 receiving yards with seven, which is the longest active streak in NCAA FBS. On the year, he has nine games with at least 100 receiving yards, which is also a CSU single-season school record.
The 15 all-conference selections are the most in a single season by a CSU squad.
The awards are determined by vote of the league's coaches and media who cover Mountain West teams.
