Ronnie Hillman Named MWC Freshman of the Year
Coach Brady Hoke is named MWC Football Coach of the Year and six players receive first-team league honors.
San Diego State running back Ronnie Hillman was named the Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year, while Brady Hoke earned MWC Coach-of-the-Year honors, the league announced yesterday.
Six SDSU players were also tabbed to the all-conference first team, four were selected to the second team and another three were tabbed to the honorable mention squad.
First SDSU coach to pick up MWC honors
Hoke is the first San Diego State head coach to pick up honors from the MWC in the 12-year history of the league and is the third Aztec head coach overall to receive league recognition, joining Ted Tollner (1998) and Denny Stolz (1986), who were both selected when SDSU was a member of the Western Athletic Conference.
In just his second season, Hoke has led the Aztecs to an 8-4 overall record and a 5-3 mark in MWC play to tie for third place. SDSU has doubled its number of wins from the 4-8 campaign in 2009 and posted its most victories overall since the 1996 team also had eight and earned its first trip to a bowl game in 12 years. The five wins in MWC action are the most for the Aztecs since the league began in 1999.
Hillman's record-breaking year
Hillman becomes the second Aztec to be named the conference freshman of the year, joining another running back, Lynell Hamilton, who was honored in 2003. Hillman broke the MWC freshman single-season rushing record with his 1,304 yards on 234 carries to go with 14 touchdowns.
Statistical highlights from Hillman's freshman year include:
- First in the conference, 14th nationally and first among freshmen in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in rushing yards per game (108.7)
- The only player in the league to average more than 100 yards on the ground
- Five 150-yard rushing performances in 2010, including a league-best 228 yards at then No. 25 Missouri in mid-September
- League player-of-the-week on three occasions
Other accolades
SDSU had six players earn first-team accolades, including:
- Hillman, who was the only freshman selected
- Wide receivers Vincent Brown and DeMarco Sampson
- Linebacker Miles Burris
- Cornerback Leon McFadden
- Punter Brian Stahovich
The six selections are the school’s most in a single season in MWC history and most overall since also getting six picks in 1996 as a member of the Western Athletic Conference. The six honorees are the first Aztecs named to the Mountain West Conference first team in four years since defensive end Antwan Applewhite was tabbed in 2006.
Brown and Sampson become the third receiving duo from the same school in MWC history to earn first-team accolades in the same campaign, joining former Aztecs J.R. Tolver and Kassim Osgood (2002) and New Mexico’s Travis Brown and Marcus Smith (2007). Burris is the third SDSU linebacker, McFadden is the second Aztec defensive back and Stahovich is the school’s first punter to be named to the MWC’s first team.
SDSU's four second-team honorees include:
- Quarterback Ryan Lindley
- Center Trask Iosefa
- Redshirt freshman Gavin Esobar
- SDSU junior place-kicker Abel Perez
Rounding out the list of Aztec honorees are honorable mention picks, including:
- Defensive end Ernie Lawson
- Cornerback Jose Perez
- Defensive back Andrew Preston
The Aztecs will begin preparations for their first bowl game since 1998 later this week at the team’s on-campus practice facility.
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