SAN FRANCISCO – Ten Washington State football players earned 2022 All-Pac-12 Conference honors, including linebacker Daiyan Henley who earned first-team honors, the conference office announced Tuesday.
Henley was named to the first team and also to the second team as an all-purpose/special teams player while edge’s Ron Stone Jr. and Brennan Jackson joined Henley on the second team. Seven players earned honorable mention; punt returner Robert Ferrel, punter Nick Haberer, left tackle Jarrett Kingston, defensive back Armani Marsh, cornerback Chau Smith-Wade, quarterback Cameron Ward and running back Nakia Watson.
In his first season at WSU, Henley is the first Cougar linebacker to earn first-team honors since Will Derting in 2003. Henley, a graduate transfer from Nevada, enters the LA Bowl second in the Pac-12 with 106 tackles, third with 12 tackles-for-loss, tied for the league lead with three forced fumbles, recovered two fumbles and picked off one pass. The Los Angeles native owns five double-digit tackle games this season including game-highs of 11 at No. 6 USC, 13 at Oregon State, 12 against No. 14 Utah and 10 against Arizona State. Henley, WSU’s first Butkus Award Finalist in program history, also paces the team with six special teams tackles.
Stone Jr. earns his second-straight all-conference honor after being named to the first team last season. The redshirt-junior from San Jose, Calif. recorded 31 tackles including four for loss with two sacks, three pass breakups and tied for second in the Pac-12 with 11 quarterback hits.
Jackson earned his third career all-conference accolade after receiving honorable mention the previous two seasons. The redshirt-junior from Temecula, Calif. recorded 39 tackles, tied for fifth in the Pac-12 with 11 tackles-for-loss including a team-high five sacks. Jackson also forced one fumble, broke up two passes and led the team with 38 quarterback pressures.
Ferrel earns honorable mention as a punt returner in his first season at WSU after graduate transferring from Incarnate Word. The Sparks, Nev. native was second in the Pac-12 averaging 10.7 yards-per punt return including three returns of 20+ yards; 34 against California, 27 at Oregon State and 21 at Stanford. Ferrel was also second on the team with 46 receptions and tied for second on the team with four touchdown catches.
Haberer picks up his first All-Pac-12 honor after finishing the regular season third in the conference with a 41.9 average and recorded four punts of 50+yards including a long of 62. The sophomore from Sunshine Coast, Australia also led the league with 27 punts fair caught and produced the best hang time average (4.14) and was second with 19 punts inside the 20.
Kingston earned his first career all-conference honor after starting the first nine games at left tackle where he did not allow a sack in 398 pass snaps. The redshirt-junior from Anderson, Calif. suffered a season-ending injury in the win at Stanford and missed the final three games. Kingston finished the regular season with the best overall grade among the Cougar offensive lineman and the third-best pass-blocking grade among Pac-12 offensive tackles by PFF College.
Marsh earns honorable mention for the second straight season after making 61 tackles with three for loss, two sacks, five pass breakups and one interception in 11 games played in. The redshirt-senior from Spokane, Wash. is rated the sixth-best Pac-12 cornerback and owns the sixth-best coverage grade among Pac-12 corners by PFF College.
Smith-Wade earns his first career All-Pac-12 accolade after making 42 tackles with 2.5 for loss, tied for the Pac-12 lead with three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, a team-best eight pass breakups and two interceptions. The sophomore from Denver earned the fourth-best defensive grade and fourth-best coverage grade in the Pac-12 by PFF College.
Ward picks up his first career All-Pac-12 honor in his first season at WSU after transferring from Incarnate Word. The sophomore from West Columbia, Texas threw for 3,094 yards and 23 touchdowns and also rushed for five touchdowns. Ward’s 298 completions are second in the Pac-12 Conference, he recorded four 300-yard passing games and five times this season he threw for a touchdown and rushed for a touchdown.
Watson earns his first career all-conference honor after finishing the regular season fifth in the Pac-12 with 12 total touchdowns and 102.6 all-purpose yards-per-game, seventh with 73.6 rushing yards-per-game and tied for ninth with eight rushing touchdowns. The redshirt-junior from Austin, Texas had three 100-yard rushing games (Idaho, at Stanford, Arizona State), forced 36 missed tackles on runs and was third in the Pac-12 with ten runs of 20+yards.
