The Nevada Sagebrush

After a season in which he constantly ran through, over and around defenders on his way to ball carriers and was among the nation’s leaders in tackles for loss, Nevada defensive end Dontay Moch was rewarded for his work with the Western Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year award.

Moch rolled up 19.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks and recovered two fumbles on his way to receiving the honor.

“I didn’t think I was going to get it, but I just played hard this season and tried to achieve something I hadn’t achieved before,” said the junior, who became the first player in Nevada history to win the award.

Wolf Pack head coach Chris Ault said Moch had the best year of all his defenders and it was good to see someone on defense get some recognition with all of the hype that the offense gets.

Joining Moch in the WAC’s top honors was wide receiver Brandon Wimberly, who earned the WAC Freshman of the Year award.

Wimberly played in all 12 games and caught 46 passes for 653 yards and five touchdowns. Early on in the season, Wimberly became Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s go-to guy.

“I think that says it all,” Ault said of Wimberly. “He had a good year, got better and better every game and became our big-play guy. I think his future’s really bright.”

In all, 10 Wolf Pack players were named to all-WAC teams, with Moch, offensive lineman Alonzo Durham and running back Vai Taua making the first team.

While two of the seven Nevada players who made the all-WAC second team were offensive linemen, Taua was disappointed more weren’t named to the first team.

“I wish some of the O-linemen would have got a couple more first-team votes,” he said. “They did most of the work; I’m just kind of reaping the benefits.”

Taua joked that the first-team snub for the team’s offensive linemen would give them extra motivation to play Southern Methodist University in the Hawaii Bowl.

“We got some of the O-linemen mad about the first team thing,” Taua said. “They’re definitely going to want to get out there and hit some people.

First-team selections:
RB Vai Taua
OL Alonzo Durham
DE Dontay Moch

Second-team selections:
WR Brandon Wimberly
TE Virgil Green
OL Kenneth Ackerman
QB Colin Kaepernick
DE Kevin Basped
LB James-Michael Johnson
S Jonathon Amaya

Juan López can be reached at jlopez@nevadasagebrush.com.

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