The coaches have voted for the Pac-12 awards, with the results scheduled to be announced Tuesday.
If you don’t call your shot ahead of time, why even bother.
So here we go …
Coach of the Year: Utah’s Kyle Whittingham. You could make a solid case for Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith and a semi-case for Washington State’s Jake Dickert (since he only coached a semi-season). But Whittingham led his team through tragedy and won the conference in dominating fashion. Perfectly fair to wonder what might have happened if the Utes had started Cam Rising all along, but that’s a mere quibble compared to the result: The Rose Bowl against Ohio State.
Offensive Player of the Year: USC receiver Drake London. We pondered this category over the past few days and settled on a player who missed the final month of the season. It’s an unprecedented call for the Hotline, but London’s two months on the field were extraordinary. And there wasn’t an obvious Plan B. And there isn’t a well-defined bar for how many games are required for this honor. Most of the players in the candidate pool missed at least one game or played sparingly in multiple games.
Defensive Player of the Year: Utah linebacker Devin Lloyd. The Hotline wrote this Sunday, and we shall repeat it here: Lloyd played the linebacker position as well as any Pac-12 player in many, many years. High-level impact every game. No-brainer selection.
First team
Offense
QB: UCLA’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson
RB: Utah’s Tavion Thomas
RB: Arizona State’s Rachaad White
WR: USC’s Drake London
WR: UCLA’s Kyle Phillips
TE: UCLA’s Greg Dulcich
OL: Oregon State’s Nathan Eldridge
OL: UCLA’s Sean Rhyan
OL: Utah’s Nick Ford
OL: Washington State’s Abe Lucas
OL: Arizona State’s Kellen Diesch
AP: Utah’s Britain Covey
Defense
DL: Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux
DL: Utah’s Mika Tafua
DL: Arizona State’s Tyler Johnson
DL: USC’s Tuli Tuipulotu
LB: Washington State’s Ron Stone
LB: Utah’s Devin Lloyd
LB: Oregon’s Noah Sewell
LB: Arizona State’s Darien Butler
DB: Washington’s Trent McDuffie
DB: Oregon’s Verone McKinley
DB: Cal’s Elijah Hicks
DB: Utah’s Clark Phillips
DB: Oregon’s Mykael Wright
Specialists
K: USC’s Parker Lewis
P: Arizona’s Kyle Ostendorp
RS: Arizona State’s D.J. Taylor
Arizona wide receiver Stanley Berryhill III runs away from Arizona State defensive back Chase Lucas (24) in the first half during an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Second team
Offense
QB: Washington State’s Jayden de Laura
RB: Oregon State’s B.J. Baylor
RB: UCLA’s Zach Charbonnet
WR: Arizona’s Stanley Berryhill
WR: Washington State’s Calvin Jackson
TE: Utah’s Brant Kuithe
OL: Oregon’s Alex Forsyth
OL: UCLA’s Paul Grattan
OL: Arizona State’s LaDarius Henderson
OL: Oregon State’s Nous Keobounnam
OL: Utah’s Braeden Daniels
AP: Washington State’s Travell Harris
Defense
DL: Washington State’s Brennan Jackson
DL: Arizona State’s D.J. Davidson
DL: Oregon’s Brandon Dorlus
DL: Utah’s Van Fillinger
LB: Colorado’s Carson Wells
LB: Washington State’s Jahad Woods
LB: Oregon State’s Avery Roberts
LB: Cal’s Cameron Goode
DB: Washington’s Kyler Gordon
DB: Stanford’s Kyu Blu Kelly
DB: UCLA’s Quentin Lake
DB: Arizona State’s Chase Lucas
DB: Oregon State’s Rejzohn Wright
Specialists
K: Washington State’s Dean Janikowski
P: Washington’s Race Porter
RS: UCLA’s Kazmeir Allen
