For the past several weeks, you have been voting on the team MVPs in various categories. Well, today, you find out who rose to the top, as well as Peter’s and my individual picks for those polls as well. We’ll start at the bottom and work our way up:

Special Teams MVP
Readers: Austin Collie (85%)

Peter: Scott Johnson
“Bet you didn’t see that coming. Every year you need a player who can streak down the field on coverage and make a play. Last year it was Nate Hutchinson, this year it started off with G Pittman. Both, however, went down with injuries and we needed someone to step up. Enter Scott Johnson. Watch carefully against UCLA [Peter sent this to me prior to the bowl game], the first man to the ball is usually #29. This is really important when your kicker only gets to the 15 yard line on kickoffs.”

Josh: Matt Allen
“As the starting holder for extra points and field goals, Allen’s early season hand injury had a much larger impact than just the receiver rotation. BYU struggled with bobbled snaps and shaky holds early in the season, making a difficult situation at kicker even worse. Allen’s return to holding mid-season stabilized the kicking game a lot. It even got to the point where I was taking extra points for granted again, and that’s saying a lot for this year’s special teams.”

Most Valuable Defensive Sub
Readers: Chris Bolden (32%)

Peter: Brett Denney
“Brett Denney, in my mind, actually had a better season than the player he replaced during the game. Denney comes from a good pedigree and is a great compliment to Jorgensen with his speed. Off the bench he was second on the team in sacks (tied with Kehl) with 4 and really provided a spark off the bench. He will likely be the starter next year as Dulan will leave on a mission.”

Josh: Brett Denney
“Denney really came on as the season progressed. I agree with Peter in that I felt like Denney surpassed Dulan and was much more of a factor and playmaker. Denney’s one of the guys that I expect to pick up some of the slack next season with the departure of several key seniors from the 2007 team.”

Most Valuable Offensive Sub
Readers: Joe Semanoff (54%)

Peter: Joe Semanoff
“‘Touchdown’ Joe Semanoff, as he was dubbed by the mtn. color commentator, has the worst nickname ever, but boy can he block. If you ever get a moment to watch some replays, watch Semanoff on running plays. He demolishes linebackers and really does a lot of the dirty work to spring Unga for the long runs. He has soft hands and really is a dangerous weapon near the goal line.”

Josh: Joe Semanoff
“Semanoff is the no-brainer here. He doesn’t fill up the stat sheet, but you can attribute about a third of Unga’s rushing yards to Semanoff’s punishing lead blocks. Linebackers who didn’t come full-speed to the hole were consistently knocked on their butt. Even the MWC Defensive Player of the Year, UNLV’s Beau Bell, got forcibly removed from several plays by Semanoff. Semanoff’s departure will be felt next year even if it isn’t immediately recognized.”

Defensive MVP
Readers: Jan Jorgensen (36%) [Bryan Kehl was a close second at 35%]

Peter: Jan Jorgensen
“This might have been the toughest category, as Bryan Kehl really had a terrific season. Jorgensen was just downright dominant at a position BYU needed to step up to create pressure. One of the top pass-rushers in the country, Jorgensen has great speed and is relentless in his pressure. He is also a mean run-stopper, a key cog in BYU’s 9th ranked run defense.”

Josh: Jorgensen
“Though exposed a bit in the bowl game for his relative lack of size (UCLA ran right at him with great success), Jorgensen still put on a mean pass rush against the Bruins, just as he did against every team all year long. Jorgensen finished with a manly 13.5 sacks as a sophomore - yikes! If Russell Tialavea returns to form this coming year, Jorgensen might have an even easier time getting to the opponent’s QB.”

Overall MVP
Readers: Harvey Unga (65%)

Peter: Harvey Unga
“Can you imagine the season if Unga hadn’t emerged to take the focus off Hall? Unga carried the team every time he was handed the ball and got better as the season wore on. He may not be the fastest or the strongest back, but he is an awfully good running back.”

Josh: Harvey Unga
“I had a tough time choosing between Unga and Max Hall. Both had outstanding seasons, especially when you consider their inexperience. BYU would have been in a world of hurt without Hall, who set the conference’s sophomore passing record with 3848 yards. However, Unga became the first freshman in BYU history to rush for over 1000 yards (he finished with 1227). In the end, I had to vote for Unga because of his dual-threat ability. In addition to his rushing prowess, Unga caught 44 passes for 655 yards, good enough for third on the team. Unga brings great size and power, but also runs very fluidly and with great balance and burst. I can’t believe Rodney Ferguson got the all-conference 1st team nod over Unga. That was a joke.”

Stay tuned for recruiting news and updates leading up to National Signing Day in February. While BYU has most of their recruiting class lined up, there are still a handful of big-time recruits on BYU’s radar that are undecided. We’ll be on top of all the latest and greatest with recruiting.

Also, now that the football season is over, we’ll be transitioning to three regular articles per week. We may post more often as needed, but MWF will be the regular schedule.

Have a safe and Happy New Year, Legionnaires!