UTEP football: Autrey Golden, Aaron Jones named pre-season First Team All-Conference USA

UTEP’s most dynamic offensive players earned some pre-season, all-conference recognition today as the C-USA league office announced the coaches voted pre-season All C-USA team.

Aaron Jones was named first-team All C-USA at running back, and Autrey Golden notched the C-USA pre-season Special Teams Player of the Year honor along with a first-team spot as a kick returner.

Jones was named to the Maxwell Award watch list after running for 1,321 yards last season, and is expected to carry a bigger load production wise this coming season. The junior running back was a second-team All C-USA member at the end of last season, and was also named Dave Campbell's Texas Running Back of the Year in 2014 and enters 2015 ranking tenth in school history with 2,132 rushing yards.

Golden enters his senior season ranking second in C-USA history and third in NCAA history in kickoff returns for touchdowns with four house calls during his UTEP career. Golden will also play a slash role on offense as he hauled in 31 receptions last season with two touchdowns and was named to the Hornung Award watch list for 2015.

Defending conference champion Marshall had the most overall preseason selections with six, while FIU had four players comprising five spots.  Louisiana Tech and WKU each placed four players on the team.

All twelve C-USA schools that competed in the league last season had at least one player named to the squad. C-USA's 13 head coaches comprised of the voters for the 2015 selections.

Fall camp start August 6th for UTEP in Ruidoso, New Mexico.

2015 C-USA FOOTBALL COACHES PRESEASON AWARDS

Offensive Player of the Year
Brandon Doughty, Sr., QB, WKU

Defensive Player of the Year
Richard Leonard, Sr., DB, FIU

Special Teams Player of the Year
Autrey Golden, Sr., KR, UTEP

First Team Offense
QB Brandon Doughty, Sr., WKU
RB Leon Allen, Sr., WKU
RB Kenneth Dixon, Sr., Louisiana Tech
RB Devon Johnson, Sr., Marshall
RB Aaron Jones, Jr., UTEP
OL Jordan Budwig, Jr., FIU
OL Darius Johnson, Sr., Middle Tennessee
OL Kaydon Kirby, Jr., North Texas
OL Andrew Reue, Sr., Rice
OL Clint Van Horn, Jr., Marshall
WR Jared Dangerfield, Sr., WKU
WR Carlos Harris, Sr., North Texas
WR Zach Pascal, Jr., Old Dominion
WR Trent Taylor, Jr., Louisiana Tech
TE Jonnu Smith, Jr., FIU

First Team Defense
DL Vernon Butler, Sr., Louisiana Tech
DL Jason Neill, Sr., UTSA
DL Jarquez Samuel, Sr., Marshall
DL Michael Smith, Sr., Southern Miss
DL Michael Wakefield, Sr., FIU
LB T.T. Barber, Sr., Middle Tennessee
LB Drew Douglas, Sr., UTSA
LB D.J. Hunter, Sr., Marshall
DB Kevin Byard, Sr., Middle Tennessee
DB Crevon LeBlanc, Sr., Florida Atlantic
DB Richard Leonard, Sr., FIU
DB Bennett Okotcha, Sr., UTSA
DB Wonderful Terry, Sr., WKU
DB Xavier Woods, Jr., Louisiana Tech

First Team Special Teams
K Trevor Moore, So., North Texas
P Tyler Williams,, Sr., Marshall
KR Autrey Golden, Jr., UTEP
PR Richard Leonard, Sr., FIU
LS Matt Cincotta, Sr., Marshall