The top 25 players: WAC

Over the past few seasons, the WAC has been the cream of the crop when it comes to non-BCS conferences.

Two years ago the Boise St. Broncos pulled off one of the biggest upsets in conference history with their victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

Last season, the Hawaii Warriors made it through the regular season undefeated. This year Boise St. is trying to wrestle back control of the conference. However, a lot of "experts" are picking Fresno St. to make a run at the title.

Here's my list of the top 25 players in the WAC.


1. Ian Johnson - Boise St. RB - Ian Johnson could be a dark horse candidate for the Heisman Trophy this season. The now famous back is a touchdown machine. With a new QB, Johnson should get plenty of carries once again.

2. Chase Holbrook - New Mexico St. QB - Holbrook has quietly put up some astronomically numbers for the Aggies. NMSU is in danger of losing it's 1-a status. In order to save the program, Holbrook will have to get accompany those numbers with wins.

3. Luke Lippincott - Nevada RB - A lot of people underestimate Lippincott at the RB position. However, whenever I watched a Wolfpack game last season, I saw this kid make play after play. I think he deserves this ranking.

4. Jeremy Childs - Boise St. WR - Childs is yet another play maker for Chris Petersen and the Broncos. I don't see how people can pick Fresno St. above them.

5. Solomon Elimimian - Hawaii LB - The Warrior defense will need to step up in a big way this season. They lost too much on offense to rely on that unit once again.

6. Chris Williams - New Mexico St. WR - Williams is the preferred target for QB Chase Holbrook at NMSU. Hal Mumme will dig deep in his playbook to find ways to get this guy the ball as much as possible.

7. Adam Leonard - Hawaii LB - Leonard joins Elimimian on a very solid linebacker unit. Coach McMackin knows he can count on these two to lead his defense this season.

8. Andrew Woodruff - Boise St. OL - Woodruff is usually the man in charge for clearing running lanes for Ian Johnson. Based on Johnson's stats, you can tell Woodruff is good at what he does.

9. Colin Kaepernick - Nevada QB - Caepernick is probably the least known of all the dual threat quarterbacks in America. This guy may actually be a bigger threat on the ground than through the air.

10. John Estes - Hawaii OL - Estes' talents may go unnoticed this season. That's largely due to the fact that there is absolutely nothing left on offense for the Warriors. Despite this, Estes will still be plugging away on the line.

The rest:

11. Antonio Baker Louisiana Tech DB
12.David Veikune Hawaii DL
13. Joshua Mauga Nevada LB
14. Christopher Owens San Jose St. DB
15. Bear Pascoe Fresno St. TE
16. Jon Monga Fresno St. DL
17. Kevin Jurovich San Jose St. WR
18. Marko Mitchell Nevada WR
19. Kyle Wilson Boise St. DB
20. Cole Popovich Boise St. OL
21. Dominic Green Nevada OL
22. Shiloh Keo Idaho DB
23. Jarron Gilbert San Jose St. DL
24. Bobby Lepori Fresno St. OL
25. Tom Brandstater Fresno St. QB