Hadley earns academic honors

OGDEN -- Weber State senior safety Beau Hadley has been named to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District Eight Team, along with three BYU and one University of Utah football players.

Hadley earned first team honors and will now move on to the national ballot.

"As I'm getting to my senior year and getting closer to graduating, the academic awards mean a lot more," Hadley said on Thursday. "Obviously I love the game of football and it's cool when you're all-conference, but this is definitely something to be proud of because school is important and school is what is going to take us to the next level in life in getting jobs."

Hadley earned All-District Eight honors last season (2008) and went on to earn first team national honors as well. He is a three-time member of the Big Sky football All-Academic Team.

Hadley, a 6-foot, 195-pound standout from Taylor, carries a perfect 4.0 GPA in technical sales. Out of the 192 players named first team in NCAA Division I, Hadley was one of only 17 players to achieve a perfect 4.0 GPA.

"It's pretty amazing for anybody to keep a 4.0, let alone a football player," WSU coach Ron McBride said. "He was a 4.0 student when he came in here and he's been able to maintain that."

With two regular season games left in the 2009 season, Hadley has 57 tackles (32 of them unassisted), with two interceptions, three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and three tackles for loss of minus six yards.

In his 41-game career, Hadley has 216 total tackles, 111 unassisted, with seven interceptions, 15 pass deflections, eight forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. He needs one more forced fumble to tie Brady Fosmark as WSU's career leader.

"It's tough at times, but in the end, it's worth it to be successful in both areas," Hadley said.

Three BYU seniors -- linebacker Matt Bauman, defensive lineman Brett Denney and defensive back Scott Johnson -- were all voted to the first team.

Majoring in finance, Bauman has a 3.91 GPA, the second-highest on the team. A team captain, he has started seven of BYU's eight games this season after starting all 13 in 2008. The native of Salt Lake City is a three-time Academic All-Mountain West Conference selection and a two-time MWC Scholar Athlete.

Also majoring in finance, Denney is in his final semester as an undergraduate. A native of Thornton, Colo., he has been named to the Academic All-MWC team and a MWC Scholar Athlete the past three years.

Johnson, an exercise science major, has started seven games this season to go along with the nine he started in 2008. A three-time Academic All-MWC selection and two-time MWC Scholar Athlete, he plans to attend medical school following graduation.

Utah senior offensive tackle Zane Beadles also repeated as a first-team All-District pick. He is a four-year starter for the Utes. He has made the all-Mountain West Conference team twice -- earning first-team honors in 2008. The senior mechanical engineering major holds a 3.535 grade point average and is scheduled to graduate in December.

* DIXIE STATE FOOTBALL PLAYERS HONORED: A total of 299 student-athletes have been named to the 2009 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Academic all-conference football team. Dixie State led the academic all-star selections with 12.

The Dixie honorees included Craig Johnson of Salem (biology, sophomore, 3.82), Judd Thompson (communications, senior, 3.71), Skyler Ence of St. George (business, senior, 3.69), Marston Sawyers of Salt Lake City (communications, senior, 3.60), Seth Mortensen (biology, senior, 3.56), Daniel Sumko of Brigham City (biology, junior, 3.50), Richard May (communications, senior, 3.49), Nash Fowler of Lindon (communications, junior, 3.46), Nick Rocco (business, junior, 3.30), Alex Nelson of Brigham City (biology, junior, 3.26), Gavin Gardner of Spanish Fork (biology, sophomore, 3.24) and Braysen Deering (undecided, sophomore, 3.20).

* STUDENT MAY NOT GET $10,000 PRIZE FOR FIELD GOAL: A University of Montana student who kicked a field goal to win a $10,000 prize likely won't get the money because he hadn't been away from the sport long enough.

Matthew Brenner, a sophomore, kicked a 45-yard field goal during UM's "Kick for Cash" contest on Saturday in Missoula.

But he didn't meet the qualifications to be a contestant because he hadn't been away from football for five years. Brenner kicked a 27-yard field goal to lift his high school team, the Sidney Eagles, to a 2007 homecoming victory.

Brenner says he wasn't asked about his athletic background and didn't really read the contest contract before he signed it.

Dan Ingram, account executive for contest organizer Grizzly Sports Properties, says the group is trying to come up with a consolation prize.

* VIKINGS' JARED ALLEN TO ATTEND UM-ISU GAME: Former Idaho State and current Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen will be inducted into the ISU Sports Hall of Fame at halftime of the Bengals' game against second-ranked Montana on Saturday in Pocatello.

Allen's No. 41 also will be retired. The Vikings (7-1) have a bye week, and school officials say Allen will be at the game.

Allen was the 2003 winner of the Buck Buchanan Award as the defensive player of the year for the now-Football Championship Subdivision. He leads the NFL in sacks with 10.5, including 7.5 in Minnesota's two wins over rival Green Bay.

* WAC SUSPENDS REPLAY OFFICIAL WHO GOOFED: The Western Athletic Conference has suspended a replay official for one game after he failed to overturn a call in a game last weekend between San Jose State and Boise State.

Official Michael Goshima's one-game suspension will go into effect this weekend.

The suspension -- the first of a WAC replay official since the NCAA implemented instant replay in 2006 -- was based on a play in which a runner was ruled short of a first down and Goshima's review incorrectly upheld the ruling on the field.

The WAC said that upon further inspection, "the runner clearly made the first down and the call should have been reversed."

"The WAC expects the same type of performance from our instant replays officials as we do from the on-field officials," Commissioner Karl Benson said in a statement. "And while errors are going to occur both on the field and in the replay booth, when they do, there must be accountability.

"Instant replay is used to get it right on the field and in this case the official had a chance to reverse a call at a very critical time in the game and did not. Thus, he will be suspended for his next assignment."

In 2003, the WAC suspended an entire crew for a series of mistakes at the end of a game between San Jose State and Hawaii.

* NEW MEXICO ANSWERING QUESTIONS ABOUT COACH: University of New Mexico president David Schmidly said Wednesday that an attorney representing an assistant football coach sent a letter offering "continued media silence" in exchange for a $500,000 settlement in a dispute with head football coach Mike Locksley.

Schmidly said the overture was rejected.

"I outright refused it," Schmidly said during a news conference. "I turned the letter over to our legal staff and told them the answer is no."

Julian Haffner, a lawyer in Bethesda, Md., who is representing receivers coach J.B. Gerald, didn't immediately return telephone messages seeking comment.

Gerald, who claims he was punched and choked by Locksley, made his first public comments about the dispute during an interview broadcast last week by ESPN. Schmidly said he "wouldn't be surprised" if Gerald files a civil lawsuit against the university.

Later, administrators released a Nov. 3 letter to Haffner in which university lawyers expressed concern that Haffner had tried to speak to other New Mexico assistants without the school's permission.

After weeks of criticism over the Locksley mess, administrators gathered reporters on campus Wednesday to clarify their version of events since the Sept. 20 altercation.

Gerald said he sustained a split lip when Locksley struck him. Locksley admitted grabbing Gerald's collar but maintains he never threw a punch.

The latest developments changed nothing for Locksley, who last month served a 10-day suspension for his role in the altercation. Athletic director Paul Krebs said the coach will enter an anger management program after the season.

"Coach Locksley's behavior surrounding an argument with a member of his staff was wrong, plain and simple," Schmidly said. "He has painted this university, the athletic department, Lobo football and himself in an extremely poor light."

New Mexico (0-8, 0-4 Mountain West) plays Saturday at No. 17 Utah (7-1, 4-0).