The Mountain West has announced its 2025 all-conference football team and players of the year, many of whom will be spotlighted during the myriad postseason bowl games.
UNLV junior quarterback Anthony Colandrea, who led the MW with 3,050 passing yards and 22 touchdowns, earned recognition as the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year. The Rebels (10-3) will face Ohio University Bobcats (8-4) in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl on Dec. 23.
New Mexico junior linebacker Jaxton Eck and San Diego State University senior defensive back Chris Johnson shared honors as the MW Co-Defensive Players of the Year.
Eck led the conference with 64 unassisted tackles and ranked eighth nationally with 126 total tackles while Johnson recorded four interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns, and had nine pass break-ups.
New Mexico (9-3) will be making its first bowl game appearance since 2016 in the Rate Bowl in Phoenix on Dec. 26 against the Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-5).
SDSU (9-3) will play the 23rd-ranked University of North Texas Mean Green (11-2) in the 20th annual Isleta New Mexico Bowl on Dec. 27.
Hawaii senior place-kicker Kansei Matsuzawa, who led the MW with his school-record 25 made field goals earned recognition as the conference’s Special Teams Player of the Year while teammate Micah Alejandro received honors as the MW Freshman of the Year with 2,832 passing yards and 21 touchdowns despite missing two games because of injury.
Both players will be spotlighted in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 24 when the Rainbow Warriors (8-4) tackled the Cal-Berkeley Golden Bears (7-5).
New Mexico’s Jason Eck was named as the MW Coach of the Year after leading the Lobos to a 9-3 regular season record and 6-2 conference mark — the most wins in both categories since 2016 and the most wins by a New Mexico coach in his first year.
Aztec Nation
Johnson, who earned additional accolades as a Second Team Associated Press All-American, is part of a SDSU defense that led the nation with three shutouts this season and held opponents to single-digit scoring in seven of 12 games overall.
The Aztec defense ranks fifth in the FBS in scoring defense (12.6 points per game), seventh in total defense (266.7 yards per game), fourth in yards per play allowed (4.12) and second in red-zone scoring percentage (66.7).
Johnson is the first Aztec to make an AP All-America team since Jonah Tavai garnered second-team honors in 2022 and the first SDSU cornerback since Luq Barcoo was a second-team honoree in 2019.
Johnson completed one of the best regular seasons defensively in program history, registering 49 tackles (36 solo), four interceptions for 146 yards and two touchdowns, nine pass breakups, three tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble and two quarterback hurries.
A semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award for the best defensive back in the country and the Mountain West Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Johnson is tied for the top-graded cornerback in the country with a 92.0 defensive grade per Pro Football Focus and has the second-highest pass coverage grade (92.4), both with a minimum of just 10 defensive snaps.
Johnson becomes the fourth Aztec to be named a MW Defensive Player of the Year, joining linebacker Kirk Morrison (2003-04), cornerback Damontae Kazee (2015-16) and defensive linemen Cameron Thomas (2021).
A total of eight SDSU players earned recognition on the 2025 MW all-conference team. Joining Johnson in the elite listing are senior offensive lineman Ross Ulugalu-Maseuli (first team offense), junior defensive lineman Trey White (first team defense), sophomore linebacker Owen Chambliss (first team defense), sophomore punt returner Jordan Napier (first team defense), senior offensive lineman Christian Jones (second team offense), senor place-kicker Gabe Plascencia (second team offense) and junior punter Hunter Green (second team defense).
White, from Eastlake High, is a two-time first team selection while Plascencia is a two-time second team selection.
SDSU’s honorable mention selections include tight end Seth Adams, outside guard Bayo Kannike, linebacker Tano Letuli, cornerback Bryce Phillips and safety Dalesean Staley.
The Aztecs finished the regular season with a 9-3 record, including a 6-2 mark in Mountain West play. SDSU tied with Boise State, New Mexico and UNLV atop the league standings, but was left out of a MW Championship appearance because of computer rankings. Boise State, which San Diego State defeated, 17-7, in the regular season, captured the MW championship with a 38-21 win over UNLV.
The six-win improvement for the Aztecs in regular-season play from last year (3-9) to this season (9-3) matches the largest win increase by SDSU in program history (since 1921), joining a six-win improvement from 1960 (1-6-1) to 1961 (7-2-1).
