The MWCConnection 2026 Pac-12 preseason awards and predictions

Welcome to the Pac-12 Kickoff Week here at MWCConnection! Although the Pac-12 is not holding Media Days week, our site is still releasing our conference awards to prepare for the football season. It’s a great time to get hyped about your team and start getting nuggets of football news. Yesterday was our all-conference team, which can be found on the website.

Today, we are releasing our preseason awards as well as our predictions for the order of finish and champion for the conference. Like yesterday’s post, our team members submitted their picks, and the players and teams with the most votes won out. This year, we added two transfer awards. Take a look at what we compiled below:

Awards

Offensive Player of the Year:

• QB Brad Jackson (Texas State)

Defensive Player of the Year:

• EDGE Jayden Virgin-Morgan (Boise State)

Special Teams Player of the Year:

• Jaylen Jenkins (Texas State)

Offensive Breakout Player of the Year:

• Sire Gaines (Boise State)

Defensive Breakout Player of the Year:

• Jaden Mickey (Boise State)

Offensive Transfer of the Year:

• QB Caden Pinnick (Washington State)

Defensive Transfer of the Year

• DL Linus Zunk (Washington State)

Offensive Freshman of the Year:

• WR Rasean Jones (Boise State)

Defensive Freshman of the Year:

• DB Jermaine Santana-Diaz (Colorado State)

Coach of the Year:

• Spencer Danielson (Boise State)

Predictions

The points for voting went as follows: 10 points for a first-place vote, 9 for second, 8 for third place, and so on.

Pac-12 Predicted Order of Finish:

1. Boise State
2. San Diego State
3. Fresno State
4. Washington State
5. Texas State
6. Utah State
7. Oregon State
8. Colorado State

Conference Champion:

• Boise State

Notes:

• Looking at the awards, there were no unanimous selections. However, DPOY, Offensive Breakout, Offensive Freshman, and Defensive Freshman were all easily won by those listed above.
• On the other hand, OPOY, Offensive Transfer, and Defensive Transfer were all tight races, coming down to a single vote.
• The most wide-open category was Special Teams Player of the Year, with five different players receiving votes.
• Boise State was the overwhleming favorite to finish at the top of the conference and win the championship. They had the majority of the first-place votes and placed no lower than second.
• Likewise, San Diego State took most of the second-place votes and went no lower than fourth.
• After those two teams, there was a large gap for the third-place team, then again with the fifth-place team, and seventh-place team.
• Unfortunately, Colorado State has a lot of doubters, picked no higher than seventh and getting most of the last-place votes.
• The toughest team to place was Texas State, which ranged from third to eighth.

There it is. So let’s hear it. Who did we snub? Who did we put on here that shouldn’t be? Let’s hear your feedback in the comments section.

Coming tomorrow: Our Pac-12 coverage continues as tomorrow we will take a look at which teams have the best position units heading into 2026.