Ka’Deem Carey scores the 50th touchdown of his career last week at ASU. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Junior running back Ka’Deem Carey is the Arizona Wildcats’ first Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year.
The league announced its all-conference teams Monday, with Carey earning first-team honors for the second consecutive season and taking home top honors for offense.
Carey was the only player to appear on the first-team ballot of all 12 head coaches.
No other Arizona player earned first- or second-team honors. Five Wildcats were honorable mention: senior linbacker Marquis Flowers, senior defensive tackle Tevin Hood, freshman receiver Nate Phillips, junior safety Jared Tevis and freshman linebacker Scooby Wright.
Here is a link to the full all-conference teams.
Arizona has had seven players win Defensive Player of the Year honors since joining the then-Pac-10 in 1978, but Carey keeps making a case for being the program’s best offensive player ever.
He will be looking to repeat as a consensus All-American this season and is one of three finalists for the Doak Walker Award, given to the nation’s top running back. The other finalists are Boston College’s Andre Williams and Washington’s Bishop Sankey, who joined Carey on the All-Pac-12 first team.
Carey, who led the nation in rushing last season with 148.4 yards per game, is second this year to Williams, who averages 175.2 yards. Carey is at 156.0.
Carey, with 4,070 career yards, ranks ninth in conference history in rushing. He’s 230 yards behind Stanford’s Stepfan Taylor (2009-12) for sixth place. If Carey returns for his senior season, he would have a chance to catch USC’s Charles White (6,245 yards from 1976-79) as the conference’s career leader.
Arizona players to earn top defensive honors in Pac-12 history are: linebacker Ricky Hunley (1983), linebacker Byron Evans (1986), safety Chuck Cecil (1987), defensive lineman Dana Wells (1988), cornerback Darryll Lewis (1990), defensive tackle Rob Waldrop (1993) and defensive end Tedy Bruschi (1995).
The Wildcats haven’t had much of a quarterback history (no All-Pac-12 first-teamers) and Carey is only the seventh first-team running back from UA since it joined the league in 1978. The only schools with fewer in that time are Arizona State and Washington State at six.
In other Pac-12 awards, Arizona State’s Todd Graham was selected as the Coach of the Year, and ASU defensive tackle Will Sutton repeated as the winner of the Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year award. UCLA linebacker/running back Myles Jack was selected as the top freshman on offense and defense.
Recent stories on Ka’Deem Carey:
A complete listing of Ka’Deem Carey’s 22 school records
Carey on setting the Arizona rushing record: ‘It’s a together thing’
Arizona football: Enjoy Ka’Deem Carey while you can
Ka’Deem Carey’s all-around skills put him in first-round range
Andy Morales looks back at Ka’Deem Carey’s high school career at CDO