FOOTBALL: 2010-19/20 All-Decade Defense and Special Teams

This is the first part of a two-part series revealing the 2010-19/20 All-Decade Weber State Wildcat Football team. To see the offense, please click here.

After a lackluster start to the 2010s, the Weber State Wildcats made one of the best hires in the history of its athletic department in Jay Hill – a move that changed the fortunes of the program.

Weber State, a program which had never surpassed 10 wins in one season, tied that mark in 2018 and surpassed it twice, in 2017 and 2019. Prior to the 2010s, the Wildcats hadn’t ever been beyond the second round of the FCS playoffs, either. That is now something that has been achieved in each of Weber State’s three most recent seasons, culminating in a semi-final appearance in 2019. The 2017-2019 seasons each ended with Big Sky Conference championships, as well.

With hopes high for the 2021 football season, and on the heels of the most successful decade in program history, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the best players in that time frame and give them some more well-deserved recognition.

Weber State Weekly has compiled a 2010-2020 All-Decade football team. In order to make this team, players had to have made an appearance for Weber State in any season between 2010 and 2019 (since the 2020 season was postponed).

Piecing together a perfect team is not an exact science. You will likely disagree with some – maybe even all – of the choices we made. The Weber State Weekly crew couldn’t even come to consensus on this. We considered stats, conference and national accolades, and we even talked with players and coaches who are in the program and worked with these guys on a firsthand basis, and tried to come to a conclusion that way. It wasn’t an easy task, but, undaunted, we pressed on.

Without further ado, we present the 2010-2020 Weber State Weekly All-Decade defense and special teams.

· DT: Jared Schiess (2017-present)

2019 First-Team All-Big Sky

· DT: McKay Murphy (2014-2017)

Two-time All-Big Sky selection

· DE: Jonah Williams (2016-2019)

First-team All-American in 2019, fifth in sacks in school history (15), 2019 Big Sky Defensive MVP

· DE: Adam Rodriguez (2016-2019)

Two-time All-American, fourth in school history with 22 career sacks, tied the school record with four sacks in a game against Montana in 2019

· LB: LeGrand Toia (2015-2018)

Two-time All-American

· LB: Landon Stice (2015-2018)

Three-time All-Big Sky selection, led 2018 team in interceptions with five

· LB: Anthony Morales (2010-2013)

Three-time All-Big Sky selection, fifth in school history in tackles with 342

· CB: Taron Johnson (2014-2017)

2017 First-Team All-American and Big Sky Defensive MVP, all-time school leader in PBUs with 42

· CB: Xequille Harry (2014-2017)

2017 First-Team All-American

· S: Jawian Harrison (2014-2018)

Had three interceptions in a game against Sacramento St. in 2015, 131 career tackles, two forced fumbles

· S: Jordan Preator (2017-2018)

Two-time All-Big Sky selection

· RET: Rashid Shaheed (2017-present)

Two-time All-American, school's all-time leader in kickoffs returned for touchdown with four, school's all-time leader in kick return average

· Special Teams: Brady May (2015-2018)

Two-time All-American

· P: Doug Lloyd (2017-2019)

Two-time All-Big Sky selection

· K: Trey Tuttle (2017-2019)

Two-time All-American, second in field goals made in school history with 61, second in points in school history with 323, school's all-time leader in field goal percentage at 76.3%

Toughest Choice: Defensive Tackle

Weber State has had some stellar defensive line play, especially during Hill's tenure as head coach. We could have gone a few different ways with this one, but after talking to people in the program and those who have seen these guys up close on a day-to-day basis, we feel like we chose the two best defensive tackles that the school has seen in the last 10 years.

Easiest Choice: Taron Johnson

Honorable mention for this goes to the entire special teams, but Johnson not only tore it up while he was at Weber State and earned first-team All-American and Big Sky Conference Defensive MVP, but his success has carried into a successful and thriving NFL career. He's been a superstar at every level he's played at, so we didn't have to think very hard about slating him in at the cornerback spot.

Deepest Position: Linebacker

In addition to the three guys we named to this squad, there were three other high-level players that we were considering putting on the All-Decade team. The Wildcats have seen some phenomenal players come through their linebacker corps, and limiting that choice to just three players proved to be near impossible.

We will be dropping the All-Decade offense next week.