Peak Perspective: Top 10 Football Players of the Mountain West Division Era

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*With the Mountain West as we know it ending, I thought it would be fun to go back and highlight the best players, games, and teams over the past 13 years. Today is for the top 10 football players

The Mountain West is changing, with new teams joining while others leave. The current setup has been in place since 2013, when Utah State and San Jose State joined. That kicked off what I’m calling the ‘Division’ era, when the conference split teams by division. I know that lost its significance when they moved to having the top two teams compete in the championship game instead of the division winners, but I’m not sure what else to call this era. I can’t call it the ‘2010s’ since we’re five years into the 20s, and it doesn’t look like the conference is doing divisions going forward. So until I think of something better, that’s what I’m going with.

My only criteria for what players to include is they had to have played in the Mountain West at some point between 2013 and 2015. I focused more on what they did in college, rather than what they would later to go on to do in the NFL. I will say I overthought this quite a bit, but I decided a simple way to narrow it down was to focus on players who were received All-American honors, received votes for the Heisman, or had some other unique or notable accomplishment.

Every top 10 list will have debates, so you’re welcome in the comments to let me know what I did wrong.

Honorable Mention

These were great players, but I didn’t quite feel they were top 10:

Rashard Higgins – Wide Receiver, Colorado State

Career Stats – 239 receptions, 3,649 yards (Mountain West Record), 31 Touchdowns

Accomplishments – 2x First Team All Mountain West, All-American and Biletnikoff Finalist (Nation’s best receiver) in 2014, drafted in the 5th round by the Cleveland Browns in 2016. 7th most receptions in Mountain West History, and 2nd most touchdowns, led FBS in receiving yards in 2014

Weston Steelhammer – Safety, Air Force

Career Stats – 227 career tackles, 21 tackles for loss, 5 sacks, 18 interceptions, 3 fumble recoveries

Accomplishments – 3x First team All Mountain West, 7 INTs in 2016 was tied for 3rd most in the FBS

Cameron Thomas – Defensive Line, San Diego State

Career Stats – 155 career tackles, 39 tackles for loss, 21 sacks

Accomplishments – 3x First Team All Mountain West, Second team All-American, Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year (2021), drafted in the 3rd round by Arizona Cardinals in 2022

Nick Vigil – Linebacker, Utah State

Career Stats – 336 Career Tackles, 41.5 Tackles for loss, 18.5 sacks, 2 Interceptions, 8 forced fumbles

Accomplishments – 2x First Team All Conference, drafted 3rd round by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2016

Zack Vigil – Linebacker, Utah State

Career Stats – 390 Career Tackles, 43.5 Tackles for loss, 16.5 sacks, 2 interceptions

Accomplishments – First Team All Mountain West, Second Team All mountain West, Defensive Player of the Year 2014

Logan Wilson – Linebacker, Wyoming

Career Stats – 421 Career tackles, 35 Tackles for loss, 7 sacks, 10 interceptions, 4 Fumble recoveries, 3 Defensive Touchdowns

Accomplishments – First Team All Mountain West (2019), Second Team (2017), drafted in the third round by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020

Super Honorable Mention

These guys were great quarterbacks, but had I put them in the top 10, they would have been the only ones without any postseason awards beyond appearing on the All-Conference team.

Josh Allen – Quarterback, Wyoming

Career stats – 5,066 passing yards, 44 touchdowns, 767 rushing yards, 12 rushing touchdowns

Accomplishments – Second Team All Mountain West 2016, drafted first round (7th overall) by the Buffalo Bills in 2018

Jordan Love – Quarterback, Utah State

Career Stats – 8,600 yards, 60 touchdowns, 21-11 record as starter

Accomplishments – Second Team All Mountain West 2018, drafted first round (26th overall) by the Green Bay Packers in 2020

Brett Rypien – Quarterback, Boise State

Career Stats – 13,581 passing yards, 90 touchdowns, 38-12 record as starter

Accomplishments – Mountain West All-Time leader in passing yards and touchdowns, 3x First team All Mountain West, signed with the Denver Broncos as undrafted free agent in 2019

10. Leighton Vander Esch – Linebacker, Boise State

Vander Esch only started one year at Boise, but man was it a good one. Vander Esch comes from Riggins, Idaho, which has a population of 380 and is three hours from the nearest Walmart. He walked onto Boise state in 2014, as a thin 6’4, 214 lb linebacker. He struggled with injuries, but in 2017 was healthy enough to show off what he could do. His 141 tackles were fifth most in the FBS while also getting four sacks, forced four fumbles, and had three interceptions – the last one sealing the conference championship for Boise State.

That season he finished First-Team All-Mountain West, was named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, and was the 15th highest rated linebacker per PFF. It was good enough for him to get drafted 19th overall by the Dallas Cowboys in 2018. His rookie year was great, finishing Second-Team-All-Pro after recording 140 combined tackles. However, after that, the neck issues that gave him problems in college started to return, forcing his retirement in 2024.

9. Trey McBride – Tight End, Colorado State

Some might argue against having a tight end ahead of quarterbacks who were drafted in the first round, but McBride was arguably the best tight end in Mountain West history. Coming out of high school, he had offers from big-name schools like Colorado, California, and Kansas State. Instead, he went to Colorado State, which was an hour and a half east of where he went to high school.

McBride joined Colorado State in 2018, saw some playing time, and slowly improved over the next two years, being First-Team All-Conference in 2019 and second team in 2020. But 2021 was ‘his’ year:

• 1,125 receiving yards (per Stat Muse, 9th most in a single season by an FBS tight end)
• 90 receptions (6th most ever by a tight end, again per Stat Muse)
• First Team All-Mountain West
• Mountain West Male Athlete of the Year
• Unanimous All-American
• Recipient of the John Mackey Award, given to the nation’s top tight end

All of that without consistency at quarterback.

McBride was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the second round in 2022, and the success carried over. He made the Pro Bowl in 2024 with 1,146 yards, then in 2025 was named First-Team All Pro and won the receiving triple crown for tight ends, leading the league’s tight ends with 11 touchdowns, 1,239 yards, and 126 receptions – a single-season record for tight ends.

8. Curtis Weaver – Defensive End, Boise State

I will give a warning that Boise has the most players on this list, but that’s what happens when you have 20 more wins and three more championships than any other Mountain West team since 2013.

Not many players can say they never had a down or bad year in college, and Weaver is one of them. Of all the players I looked at going back to 2013, Weaver was the only player who played in the conference for at least 3 years and was always First-Team All-Conference. He led the conference in sacks in two of those years and finished second the other. In all three years, he finished in the top four for tackles for loss.

Coming from Long Beach, California, he redshirted in 2016 but was an immediate contributor after that. As a redshirt freshman in 2017, he led the conference in sacks with 11, was named Freshman All-American, and named to the first of three straight First-Team All-Mountain West appearances. In 2019 Weaver went out with a bang, leading the conference in tackles for loss (18.5) and sacks (13.5). Seven outlets named him Second Team All-American, while five named him First Team. On top of that, Weaver was named Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year and finished as a semi-finalist for the Bednarick Award, given to the nation’s top defensive player.

Weaver graduated as the conference’s all-time leader in sacks with 34, which is impressive considering he only played three years. In 2019 Weaver was drafted in the fifth round by the Miami Dolphins. He hasn’t had as much success in the NFL, but still was one of the best defenders the conference has seen in a while.

7. Damontae Kazee – Cornerback, San Diego State

Kazee was a multi-sport athlete in high school, and like his older brother Walter, committed to San Diego State. His first two seasons were on the quiet side: two career interceptions and a second team All-Conference appearance in 2014. But his last two were fantastic, finishing First-Team in 2015 and 2016. In 2015, Kazee led the conference with eight interceptions, which also tied for second most nationally. San Diego’s defense finished top 15 nationally in yards and points allowed per game. All contributed to Kazee winning Defensive Player of the Year. Oh, and San Diego won the conference championship too.

While winning Defensive Player of the Year once is great, winning it twice is even better. In 2016 Kazee tied with Steelhammer with seven picks for the most in the conference (only two players nationally had more), the defense again was top 20 in most notable metrics, and San Diego again won the Mountain West. His 15 interceptions across two years is the most by a Mountain West defender since at least 1999. Kazee went on to be the first, and so far only, two-time Defensive Player of the Year. 

One fact that makes that so impressive is the Mountain West was deep with defensive talent the two years Kazee won the award. His competition included nine players that went on to be drafted, including three of the four players with the most interceptions in conference history. Yet in back-to-back years, he beat them all out as the best defender in the conference. For that, he gets my vote as the best defender of the Mountain West’s Divisional era. Kazee was drafted in the fifth round in 2017 by the Atlanta Falcons and has played nearly a decade in the NFL.

6. Rashaad Penny – Running Back, San Diego State

San Diego State has had some great running backs. Penny unfortunately was buried on the depth chart behind one of them (who will appear later) for the first three years of his career. He still showed solid potential, returning five kickoffs for touchdown in those three years, and also rushing for 1,108 yards in 2016.

When he became the primary option in 2017, he didn’t hold back. Penny joined the 2,000-yard club, leading the nation with 2,248 rushing yards (sixth most ever in a single-season), along with 25 touchdowns from scrimmage. What was amazing was half of those yards came in the final five games of the year, hitting 200 yards in each of them. He also returned a punt for a touchdown, along two kickoffs returned. His seven career kickoff returns for touchdowns are tied for first among FBS players. One reason why he was so hard to stop was he weighed 220 lbs and could run the 40-yard dash in 4.46 seconds – he was basically a freight train.

That 2017 season earned him a number of awards: First Team All-Conference, Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year, Mountain West Male Athlete of the Year, and fifth in Heisman voting. He had a whole list of other awards too long to write out, so I’ll just give a link instead.

He finished his career with the ninth most rushing yards in conference history and 10th most touchdowns from scrimmage, all while splitting carries for three seasons. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks with the 27th overall pick in 2018. His pro career was slowed by injuries, but still managed to play six seasons.

5. Jay Ajayi – Running Back, Boise State

The best British-born player on the list, Ajayi originally is from London then moved to the U.S. as a child. In Texas, he discovered what the superior form of football was, then committed to Boise State. His first year he played a complementary role, but still managed to get over 500 yards from scrimmage along with four touchdowns. As a sophomore he became the lead back, rushing for over 1,400 yards and 18 touchdowns, earning him a spot on All-Conference Team.

As a redshirt junior, Boise decided their offense would center on Ajayi, which worked. Ajayi was responsible for 41% of their yards and touchdowns. And they weren’t a bad offense either; Boise’s offense finished 13th in total yards per game and ninth in points. Ajayi had a total of 2,358 yards and his 32 touchdowns from scrimmage tied for first in the FBS – making him one of 13 players ever to score 30+ touchdowns in a single season. He was a true dual-threat back, recording 1,823 rushing yards and catching 50 passes in 2014. That year ended with Boise winning their third Fiesta Bowl.

Ajayi graduated with the seventh most scrimmage yards in conference history and fourth most touchdowns. The 2014 year saw him appear on several second team All-American lists, and a few third team, along with being a semi-finalist for the Doak Walker Award (nation’s top running back) and a finalist for the Earl Campbell award (top offensive player). Ajayi was drafted in the fifth round by the Miami Dolphins in 2015, and later won a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017. Ajayi retired in 2019 from the NFL, and now is a professional Esports player.

4. Derek Carr – Quarterback, Fresno State

Derek’s older brother David was a star quarterback at Fresno, leading the FBS in passing yards in 2001 and drafted first overall in 2022. So naturally Derek has some high expectations when he joined Fresno eight years later – he was the National Player of the Year after all.

After riding the bench his first two years, Carr became the starter in 2011, and for all three years he led his conference in yards and touchdowns (though that first one was in the WAC, but half the conference a year later moved to the Mountain West). In 2012 he was named the Mountain West’s Offensive Player of the Year after throwing 37 touchdowns, then the second-most in conference history, and became the first Mountain West quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards.

In 2013 Carr decided to make opposing defenses reconsider their life choices. He obliterated his own conference record with 5,083 passing yards (second most ever now is 4,189) and 50 touchdowns. Only six FBS quarterbacks have ever hit the 5,000-yard, 50-touchdown mark in a single season, and Carr was the fourth. Carr led the nation in both metrics, while also finishing sixth in completion rate (68.9%) and 15th in passer rating (156.3).

Fresno’s offense finished sixth in points per game and third in yards, and their 11 wins were the most since David Carr was the starter in 2001. Fresno also won the Mountain West Championship, their first outright conference title in 24 years. Carr won the Mountain West Male Athlete of the Year, the Sammy Baugh Award for best passer, included in many All-American lists, and finished eighth in the Heisman voting.

His place in ranking for career totals for the conference are a little murky due to Fresno switching from the WAC to MWC in the middle of Carr’s career, but he still finished 10th in career yards and fifth in touchdowns for the Mountain West. The Oakland Raiders drafted him in the second round of the 2014 draft and had a great NFL career, playing 11 years and is currently 22nd all-time for career passing yards.

3. Davantae Adams – Wide Receiver, Fresno State

Fresno was fun to watch in that 2012-2013 stretch. Derek Carr was one reason, Adams was the other. Adam’s only played two seasons, but what he did in those two years likely won’t be replicated.

In 2012, as a freshman, Adams had 102 receptions, 1,312 yards, and 14 touchdowns – all best in the conference, and all top 10 nationwide. That basically made him a shoo-in for Conference Freshman of the Year and Freshman All-American. Heck, his first game resulted in 118 yards and two touchdowns. Sure, it was against Weber State, but a week later on the road against Oregon he caught 12 passes for 92 yards.

Nationwide, Adams had the 6th most receptions, 9th most touchdowns, and 18th most yards as a freshman. As great as that was, like Carr, Adams decided it wasn’t good enough. In 2013 he had:

• 131 receptions, a conference record and 12th most ever
• 1,719 yards, 25th most ever and 3rd most in conference history
• 24 touchdowns, 7 more than any MW receiver ever, and fourth most in FBS history

Adams was 11 yards away from leading the nation in yards, otherwise he would have won the receiving triple crown. He again earned All-American Honors and won the Paul Warfield Award for best receiver in the country.

Adams only played 26 games in his college career, yet in the conference’s history, he’s ninth all-time in receptions, third all-time in receiving yards, and holds the record for touchdowns with 38 (Higgins is second with 31 for reference). He’s 23rd all-time in receiving touchdowns across the FBS. Michael Crabtree is the only other receiver with as many or more touchdowns in 30 or fewer career games. Adams declared for the NFL draft after that year, and was selected by the Packers in the second round, where he has since had a career that might get him into the NFL Hall of Fame.

2. Donnel Pumphrey – Running Back, San Diego State

For those wondering why Rashaad Penny wasn’t the lead back for most of his career, Pumphrey is why.

Coming out of high school, he wasn’t highly recruited. Sure, he was the Gatorade Player of the Year for Nevada, but at 5’8 and 176 lbs, there were some legit questions about how well he could do in college. From what I can find he had four offers out of high school, and was the lowest rated player on San Diego’s 2013 recruiting class.

As a freshman he split carries, but still managed to get 986 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns. Then he led the Mountain West in rushing yards for three straight years, while also finishing top four in touchdowns each season. In both 2014 and 2015, Pumphrey had over 2,000 yards from scrimmage and 20 total touchdowns. Both years saw him finish First Team All-Conference, and in 2015 he was the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year along with Honorable Mention on Sports Illustrated All-American Team.

Like pretty much everyone else on this list, Pumphrey left on a bang. He joined the 2,000-yard club with 2,133 yards in 2016 (first nationally) along with 17 rushing touchdowns. He was on listed on many All-American teams, on top of being a semifinalist for the Walter Camp and Maxwell Awards, finalist for the Doak Walker Award, and tenth in Heisman voting. San Diego beat Wyoming in the championship game to win the Mountain West and finished the year ranked 25th in the AP poll, their first time finishing the year ranked since 1977.

The main reason I put Pumphrey so high was for what he accomplished for his career. He played in all 54 career games, an impressive feature for a running back. Oh, and he holds the FBS record for most career rushing yards with 6,405. His 62 rushing touchdowns are also 11th most in FBS history, and most ever by a Mountain West back. Not many schools can say they have an alumnus holding a significant record, and San Diego State is one of them.

Pumphrey was drafted in the 4th round in 2017 by the Eagles. He tore his hamstring and missed his rookie year, but still got a Super Bowl ring.

1. Ashton Jeanty – Running Back, Boise State

While I played around a lot with how I would rank everyone, to me this was obvious. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a player do what Jeanty did. He gained fame for his ridiculous 2024 season, where most have heard his story about first playing football in Italy while his dad served in the Navy. He went to Texas to beef up the competition, and from there Boise State recruited him.

While most didn’t know about Jeanty outside of Boise until 2024, he was a great player prior to that. In 2022, while splitting carries, he ran for 821 yards, including 178 in their bowl game against North Texas. In 2023, while still splitting carries and playing 12 games, he finished second nationally with 1,916 scrimmage yards and fifth in total touchdowns with 19. He also very quietly led all running backs with 569 receiving yards on 43 catches, including five for touchdown. That got him All-American honors, Offensive Player of the Year for the conference, and a finalist for the Earl Campbell Award.

With that, Boise State decided to launch a Heisman campaign for Jeanty. I remember at the time thinking that was a little ambitious, but good for them. Obviously they knew something I didn’t. By the end of the year, he had 2,601 rushing yards — 27 shy of Barry Sanders’ record that was once considered unbreakable (and Jeanty sat out the second half of two games). To put that in perspective, in any given season, only about 20 teams gain 2,600 yards. Jeanty did that himself, and it was painfully obvious he was getting the ball. His 30 total touchdowns were an afterthought, which only 13 players have ever done.

That season was ridiculous on so many levels. It led to memes:

Stats that showed how helpless defenses were:

And Jeanty getting his own imperialist map (may need to hit the arrow keys on the side of the image to scroll through the images):

Last year I made my case for why I thought he should have won the Heisman, so I won’t add much here. But I did find some other fun stats:

• Pick any 7 games from Jeanty’s 2024 season. He had 1,000 yards in them.
• He never had a 6 game stretch that year without 1,000 yards or 9 touchdowns
• Jeanty had 6 games with over 200 yards, 4 with less than 150, and none under 100.
• He had more yards per game against Power Conference Schools than Group of 5 (195 to 188)
• 19 of his 30 touchdowns came against teams with winning records
• If he sat out the final month of that season, he still would have led the country in rushing yards
• He had 1,000 yards by week 5. Some teams didn’t have even had their bye week yet

I attended Boise’s game against Washington State that year, and I will say that was the best game I’ve ever seen by a college football player. Most of his damage was done later in the game, and WSU’s defense couldn’t do anything

Jeanty finished third all time in the conference for rushing yards with 4,769 and third in touchdowns with 50. He’s the only Mountain West Player to have won the Maxwell or Walter Camp Awards, given to the nation’s top football player, regardless of position. Jeanty was also the Heisman runner up in one of the best Heisman races in a while, and in most years would have walked away with the award.

Jeanty was drafted by the Raiders 4th overall last year, the highest ever for a Mountain West player. Not only was he the best player in the conference over the past 13 years, there’s an argument he’s the best ever.

Conclusion

The conference has had a lot of great players, but these are my top 10. Let me know in the comments anyone else that should have been included, or why you think I have someone to high or low.

Up next: Top 10 Basketball Players

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