Mountain West Football: Eight Named As MWwire’s 2020 Preseason Freshmen Of The Year
A number of new arrivals, including Hawaii’s Quin Bright and Boise State’s Shea Whiting, are named as our impact freshmen for 2020.
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No consensus, no problem.
A funny thing happened among our staff when it came to determining our selection as the Mountain West’s preseason freshman of the year: We couldn’t agree upon anything. One eight-way tie later, we decided to simply bestow this distinct upon all of our selections. Here’s a little information on each of the eight freshman we expect to make a splash in 2020.
Quin Bright, wide receiver, Hawaii
If you, like Ricky Bobby, like to go fast, you’ll be hard pressed to find more speed in one Mountain West athlete than the Warriors’ new pass catcher from Texas.
According to 247Sports’s Jackson Moore, the 5-foot-9, 170-pound Bright chose Hawaii over more than 20 other FBS offers, giving new Warriors head coach Todd Graham and offensive coordinator G.J. Kinne one of the conference’s most explosive weapons in their first year at the helm.
LaTrell Caples and Shea Whiting, wide receiver, Boise State
The Broncos are accustomed to cranking out highly productive pass catchers year in and year out. It’s been a little while, however, since anyone has been as productive in their freshman year on the blue as Matt Miller was in 2011. The 62 catches, 679 yards, and nine touchdowns Miller put up that year are far and away the best such campaign by any Boise State freshman in the past decade, but with few proven commodities behind Khalil Shakir and CT Thomas going into 2020, could this be the time for a new breakthrough?
Enter Caples and Whiting, a pair of three-star recruits from Texas that were part of Boise State’s last two recruiting classes. Caples was actually rated as the program’s highest-rated recruit of 2020, according to 247Sports, while Whiting redshirted in 2019 after appearing in three games.
Kyjuan Herndon, running back, Colorado State
Marvin Kinsey was arguably the most productive player on Colorado State’s offense during the first half of 2019, so replacing his explosiveness will be a tall task for new head coach Steve Addazio.
Herndon, a three-star 2020 recruit from Florida, could carve himself a role after choosing to head to Fort Collins over offers from the likes of Maryland, Mississippi, and Cincinnati. After all, not just anyone can average nearly eight yards per carry as a high school senior, and Addazio and new offensive coordinator Bodie Reeder will want to balance the obvious talents in the passing game with an effective running attack.