Six Stanford football players were named first-team All-Pac-12 honorees on Monday, tying the Cardinal with upcoming Pac-12 Championship Game foe Arizona State for the most players on the team.
Six Stanford players were named to the second team and seven received honorable mention, with junior Ty Montgomery receiving two recognitions (first-team kick returner, second-team wide receiver).
Head coach David Shaw did not receive a third consecutive Pac-12 Coach of the Year award, ceding the mantle to Sun Devils head coach Todd Graham.
Though Shaw was very complementary of ASU’s Will Sutton, who was named the conference’s defensive player of the year, he was surprised that Cardinal outside linebacker Trent Murphy was not selected for the award. Murphy leads the nation in sacks (13) and is among the FBS leaders in tackles for loss (19.5) as well.
“I don’t know that anybody in our conference caused more problems than Murphy,” Shaw said. “There’s a little bit of disappointment.”
There was no disappointment when it came to the Tunnel Workers Union, as all five Stanford starting offensive linemen were selected by the conference’s coaches. Senior left guard David Yankey was named to the first team, while sophomore left tackle Andrus Peat, fifth-year senior center Khalil Wilkes and senior right tackle Cameron Fleming earned second-team recognition. Fifth-year senior right guard Kevin Danser received honorable mention.
Besides the linemen and Montgomery, Stanford’s only other offensive recognition was for senior Tyler Gaffney, who was named one of the conference’s second-team running backs.
On defense, Murphy, fifth-year senior inside linebacker Shayne Skov, senior free safety Ed Reynolds and fifth-year senior defensive end Ben Gardner were all named to the first team. Gardner was recognized despite the fact that he has missed the last four games with a pectoral injury and will not play in the postseason either.
Additionally, senior inside linebacker Joe Hemschoot was named to the second team for his work with the Cardinal’s special teams.
Contact Joseph Beyda at jbeyda ‘at’ stanford.edu.