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CEDAR CITY -- SUU football standouts swept the Great West Conference Player of the Year awards and led the team to its second consecutive winning season.
Quarterback Brad Sorensen was named Offensive Player of the Year, defensive end Tyler Osborne was Defensive Player of the Year, running back Austin Minefee earned Special Teams Player of the Year and wide receiver Brady Measom was named Rookie of the Year.
Coaches within the conference voted on these awards.
"I commend the coaches, and I'm honored that they would look at the whole season and what our players did throughout the season because within the conference we weren't that successful," SUU Head Coach Ed Lamb said.
Sorensen led the conference in several categories by completing 288-of-425 passing for 3,143 total yards and 17 touchdowns this season.
Osborne is the first T-Bird to earn the Defensive Player of the Year award from the GWC. He had a total of 60 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, five forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries in his senior season.
Minefee finished seventh in the nation in kickoff return average by recording 25 kickoff returns for 731 yards. During the season, he broke the SUU kickoff return record with a 99-yard return.
Measom led the T-Birds in receiving with 48 catches for 547 yards, which made him second in the conference.
Lamb said having a player earn the Rookie of the Year award helps the team's recruiting and keeps the team driven.
"It's really good for us from a recruiting standpoint," he said. "He showed that true freshman can come in and play at about the highest level that you could do it. It gives some extra motivation to some guys that have been in the program because Brady came in and surpassed them on the depth chart and showed that it could be done as a walk- on."
SUU also had nine players earn spots on the all-Conference First Team and five more on the second team.
The T-Birds ended the season with a record of 6-5 and 1-3 in conference play. SUU finished the season 3-1 after having a three-game losing streak midway through the season.
Lamb said the seniors never gave up and kept pushing the team through losses.
"Our seniors had high expectations for the team, and even through high setbacks they never allowed the team to give up," he said. "That is what allowed us to finish strong and with a winning record."
Lamb said having a winning season doesn't always tell the entire story.
"We had some setbacks that we can learn from," he said. "I think we'll have a more motivated team coming in next year because we fell well short of achieving our goal."
The T-Birds went 3-0 against Big Sky teams and had its first win in SUU history against a Football Bowl Subdivision school beating UNLV Sept. 24.
Lamb said those positives give the team some momentum going into the offseason, but they haven't reached their full potential.
"The realization that we can be a good team is there, but there is also a realization that there has to be a hunger," he said. "I think we have that."
