Golden Nuggets: Awards Season

Put your CGB tax dollars to work and vote in royrules22's top-25 ballot.

Last night was the annual Cal football banquet, where a variety of awards were handed out to members of the football team. Go here for the complete list of winners.  Here are some of the highlights:

Most Improved Player
Skylar Curran

Lifter of the Year Freshman - Mark Brazinski
Senior - Tyson Alualu

Bob Simmons Award - Most Valuable Freshman
Offense - Matt Summers-Gavin
Defense - Aaron Tipoti

J. Scott Duncan Award - Most Valuable Special Teams Player
Bryan Anger

Joe Roth Award - Player best exemplifying courage, attitude and sportsmanship
Tyson Alualu

Everett Merriman Award - Demonstrating commitment to community service
Kevin Parker [AKA Rope Coach]

Bear Backers MVP Awards (voted on by team)
Offense - Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen
Defense - Mike Mohamed 

Scout Team Players of the Year

Offense - T.J. Emery and Ryan Wertenberger
Defense - Steven Fanua and Keni Kaufusi
Special Teams - Tyre Ellison and Spencer Hagan

The scout team PotY awards caught me by surprise, as I didn't know Wertenberger was a QB until just a couple weeks ago.  Remember the name Steve Fanua in the coming years, as he is certain to become a vocal leader on defense.

After the jump we have more awards as the All-Pac-10 team was announced, reactions from to the Poinsettia bowl from Cal/Utah players and coaches, a lolwut quote of the week as Wilner calls the BCS "fair and open," post-game quotes from women's bball's loss to Texas A&M, and more.

Cal Football

• The All-Pac-10 team was announced this morning.  Tepper, Alualu, Syd, Mohamed, and Anger all made the first team.  Jahvid Best was the lone Cal player on the second team.
• Ted Miller provides a brief preview of the Poinsettia Bowl.  With its struggles at quarterback, Utah sounds like it won't have an easy time lighting up the Bears' defense like Locker did.
• Utah looks forward to playing Cal in the Poinsettia Bowl. Utah's coach Kyle Wittingham says it will be an interesting matchup, as Ludwig knows Utah's defense very well while Wittingham is very familiar with Ludwig's.  JO has quotes from Tedford, Wittingham, Vereen, and Tepper, as they react to the bowl announcement.
• After getting blown out in their last game, many players want to redeem the season with a win over Utah.
• Cal drops to seventh in Ted Miller's Pac-10 power rankings.
• In the lolwut statement of the week, Wilner says "Texas’ game-winning field goal was the most important kick in BCS history because of what it did to the BCS: It made the flawed, oft-criticized but incredibly successful system appear fair and open."