Nov. 29, 2016
All-Mountain West Honorees
Colorado Springs, Colo.------ San Jose State University cornerback Andre Chachere was named to the 25-player Mountain West all-conference first-team in a vote by the conference coaches and media members.
The junior from Fresno leads the conference and is sixth nationally in passes defended (pass interceptions plus pass break ups) with an average of 1.5 per game. In 2016, Chachere led the Spartans, is tied for third in Mountain West and currently ranks 35th nationally with four interceptions. He was the only San Jose State player to intercept two passes in a game with his pair of picks in the Portland State win. His other two interceptions came in the Nevada win and the final home game against Air Force.
Chachere's 117 yards of interception returns currently is ninth most among Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and tops among players heading into conference championship week and the post-season bowl schedule. He is the first San Jose State player since Bené Benwikere in 2012 with at least 100 yards of interception returns.
Besides Chachere, punter Michael Carrizosa, defensive end Isaiah Irving, offensive lineman Jeremiah Kolone, safety Maurice McKnight, and linebacker Christian Tago were honorable mention All-Mountain West football selections.
Carrizosa finished the season with a 44.3 yards per punt average. Presently, he is third in the Mountain West and 16th nationally in individual punting average. Twenty-one of his 61 punts were fielded inside the opponent's 20-yard line. Only six punts resulted in a touchback.
Irving led San Jose State and is third in the Mountain West with his 7.0 quarterback sacks. All of his sacks came in conference play topped by his back-to-back plays in the season-finale 16-14 win at Fresno State. The senior from Vacaville was second on the Spartans with his 11.0 tackles for loss.
Kolone was the only player on offense to start in all 12 games. He was the starting left guard for 11 contests and filled in at center in the Mountain West opener at New Mexico.
McKnight finished third on the team in total tackles with 68. Despite missing the last two games of the season due to injury, the safety from San Bernardino topped the Spartans with 51 solo tackles. A 2016 team captain, he ranks eighth in solo tackles per game at 5.03 among FBS active players.
Tago, a team captain for the second consecutive season, was the Spartans' number-two tackler with 73 stops despite missing the first three games of the season while recovering from an injury. He had his career high of 15 tackles in the October 29 win over UNLV and presently ranks third among FBS active players with 384.