CEDAR CITY, Utah, Nov. 25 ? Eleven Southern Utah University football players have been named to this year's all-Great West Conference squad, including nine first-team selections as well as Special Teams Player of the Year Nick Miller.
    Miller, a senior wide receiver/return specialist from Scottsdale, Ariz. (Scottsdale CC/Red Mountain HS), finished the regular season ranked first in the nation (NCAA Division I, FCS) in all-purpose yards with an average of 195.36 yards per game. This season he also led the Great West and ranked seventh in the nation in punt return yardage (15.8 yards per return) and was second in kickoff return average (20.1 ypr) and first in kickoff return yards (885). Miller will leave SUU as the holder of a pair of school records as well, including single-season and career kickoff return yards, and he is among the top-10 in single-season and career punt return yardage, single-season receptions and receiving yards in a season. He was also named the conference's special teams player of the week twice this season.
    Named first team all-GWC were three offensive and six defensive players, including WR Tysson Poots (Soph., Henderson, Nev/Coronado HS), OL Stephen Boyer (Jr., Kaysville, Utah/Davis HS) and kicker Steve Pulver (Sr., Salt Lake City/Highland HS) on the offensive side of the ball. First-teamers on the defensive side of the ball are tackles Austin Curtis (Sr., Layton, Utah/Layton HS) and Aaron Fernandez (Sr., Mesa, Ariz./Red Mountain HS/Mesa CC), linebacker Robert Takeno (Jr., Sandy, Utah/Hillcrest HS), defensive backs Akeem Aniofowoshe (Soph., Las Vegas, Nev./Las Vegas HS) and Colin Pretlow (Soph., Las Vegas, Nev./Las Vegas HS) as well as punter Trevor Ward (Jr., Ogden, Utah/Bonneville HS).
    Named to the second team was offensive lineman Aaron Po'uha (Jr., Sandy, Utah/Cyprus HS/Snow JC) while Miller also earned honorable mention honors as a wide receiver.
    Poots led the GWC with 83 receptions for 1,236 yards and was second in receiving touchdowns with 14. His receptions, yards and TDs all set SUU single-season records. Boyer is a three-year starter for the Thunderbirds while Pulver, an honorable mention honoree last year, was second on the Thunderbirds in scoring (behind Poots) with 49 points after hitting 25-of-27 extra points and eight of 13 field goals.
    Curtis and Fernandez teamed the past three years to give the Thunderbirds one of the most solid fronts in FCS football. Curtis finished the season with 58 tackles, a team-high 13.5 for losses and four sacks with five quarterback hurries, while Fernandez had 56 tackles, 10.5 for losses, with 1.5 sacks, six QB hurries, and two passes broken up. Fernandez, a CoSIDA Academic all-district selection, earned a GWC defensive player of the week award following the Youngstown State game, in which he scooped up a fumble and returned it 54 yards for the winning touchdown.
    Takeno, a second-team selection last year, led the Thunderbirds in tackles for the second straight year, tallying 94 stops with 6.5 for losses this season. He was also in on a sack, broke up two passes and forced a fumble. Anifowoshe was second on the team with 76 tackles despite missing the South Dakota game because of injury. He also had seven tackles for losses, forced two fumbles, recovered two fumbles, had two quarterback hurries and broke up two passes. Pretlow, another second-team selection in 2007, tallied 59 tackles and co-led the team with two interceptions. Pretlow also led the team with six passes broken up, tallied 3.5 tackles-for-loss and a sack and recovered a fumble.
    Ward, who earned honorable mention honors last season, was a three-time GWC special teams player of the week as well as national special teams player of the week following the Air Force game. He led the GWC in punting with a 42.8 yards per punt average and pinned the opponents inside the 20 yard line 18 times. Ward finished the season ranked eighth in the nation while SUU was the seventh-ranked team in net punting. His 42.8 ypp average this year ranks second in SUU history.
    Cal Poly took home three of the league's individual awards as wide receiver Ramses Barden was named GWC Offensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, Cal Poly cornerback Asa Jackson was voted Top Rookie and former SUU coach and current Cal Poly Coach Rich Ellerson was named Coach of the Year.  The other individual award went to defensive end John Faletoese of UC Davis, who was named Defensive Player of the Year.

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