Utah Football Leads Pac-12 With Six Preseason First-Team All-Conference Honorees
Jul 18, 2023, 1:42 PM
SALT LAKE CITY –ย Back-to-back Pac-12 Champion Utah football leads the way in the preseason All-Pac-12 All-Conference honors with six first team selections.
The Utes also placed two players to the second team and four more as honorable mentions for a total of 12 players recognized.
The announcement comes ahead of the Conference of Champion’s Media Day that will take place Friday, July 21 in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the first year the Pac-12 will be holding their Media Day in Vegas as opposed to Los Angeles.
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— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) July 18, 2023
First Team All-Conference Utes
- Brant Kuithe, Tight End
- Sataoa Laumea, Offensive Line
- Keaton Bills, Offensive Line
- Junior Tafuna, Defensive Line
- Karene Reid, Linebacker
- Cole Bishop, Safety
Second Team All-Conference Utes
- Van Fillinger, Defensive Line
- Lander Barton, Linebacker
Honorable Mention Utes
- Michael Mokofisi, Offensive Line
- Jonah Elliss, Defensive Line
- JaTravis Broughton, Cornerback
- Zemaiah Vaughn, Cornerback
Some Possible Utah All-Conference Omissions?
Coming up with All-Conference teams is admittedly very hard when you have to try and evenly judge 12 different teams and the impact each individual player has on what they do and don’t accomplish.
That being said, there are a few points of interest that will be fascinating to watch as the season unfolds to see if the media feels the same at season’s end.
Preseason All-Pac-12 Conference Selections are out and @Utah_Football leads the way with six first-teamers:
Kuithe, Laumea, Bills, Reid, Tafuna, and Bishop
The Utes also have two second teamers in Barton and Fillinger.
Mokofisi, Elliss, Vaughn & Broughton get HMs.#GoUtes
— Michelle Bodkin (@BodkinKSLsports) July 18, 2023
For starts, Utah’s running back room appears to be loaded and Ja’Quinden Jackson showed incredibly well last season after converting to the position mid-season from quarterback, yet no one is mentioned in the Pac-12 All-Conference teams. Will that still be the case when all is said and done?
It’s also rather interesting to see the quarterback who has led his team to back-to-back Pac-12 Titles in Cam Rising not even be able to make the honorable mention list.
Other potential Utah players who may have an argument and may be on one of these lists to end the season include Thomas Yassmin, Sione Vaki, Connor O’Toole and Devaughn Vele.
What do you think? Are there any Utah players who didn’t make the cut for the preseason Pac-12 All-Conference teams that you think will be on it when the season is over?
Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for KSLsports.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) andย The Saturday Showย (Saturday from 10 a.m.โ12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her onย Twitter,ย Instagram, andย Threads: @BodkinKSLsports
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