USU’s Chuckie Keeton named 2012 Collegiate Male Athlete of the Year at Utah State of Sports Awards

LOGAN, Utah – Utah State junior quarterback Chuckie Keeton was named the 2012 Collegiate Male Athlete of the Year at the second annual Utah Governor’s State of Sport Awards held Tuesday at the Zions Bank Basketball Center in Salt Lake City.

Keeton, who was one of six nominees for the award, was selected over former Utah football players Reggie Dunn and Star Lotulelei, former Utah Valley baseball player Goose Kallunki, former Southern Utah track athlete Cameron Levins, and former Weber State basketball player and current Portland Trailblazer rookie Damian Lillard.

Keeton, a 6-2, 200 pound quarterback from Houston, Texas (Cypress Creek HS) earned first-team all-Western Athletic Conference honors as a sophomore after ranking 17th nationally in total offense (307.1 ypg), 18th in passing efficiency (154.7) and 29th in passing (259.5 ypg).

During the 2012 season, Keeton set single-season school records for touchdown passes (27), passing yards (3,373), completions (275) and completion percentage (.676), while setting the single-game record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 121 yards at Louisiana Tech.

Along with earning first-team all-league honors as a sophomore, Keeton was also named the WAC’s Offensive Player of the Week four times during the course of the season as he had at least two touchdown passes in 10 games and rushed for a touchdown in eight games, while throwing for at least 300 yards three times in the last five games of the season and five times overall.

In all, Keeton concluded his sophomore season completing 275-of-407 passes for 3,373 yards with 27 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also ran the ball 129 times for 619 yards (47.6 ypg) with eight touchdowns.

Utah State had its most successful season in school history in 2012 as it went 11-2 and set school records for wins (11) and home wins (6), while recording just its second bowl win in school history with a 41-15 victory against Toledo in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. USU also won its first outright conference championship since 1936 and just its third in school history joining the 1921 and 1936 teams that both won Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles.

Nationally, Utah State was one of just 19 teams to finish the 2012 season with 11 or more wins and USU was one of just four teams across the country who did not lose a league game joining Ohio State (8-0) from the Big Ten and Kent State (8-0) and Northern Illinois (8-0) from the Mid-American Conference.

Utah State ended the 2012 season nationally ranked for just the third time in school history as it finished the year ranked 16th in the Associated Press poll, 17th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ poll and 22nd in the Bowl Championship Series standings.

Utah State also finished the 2012 season winning its final seven games, which is tied for the fourth-longest active winning streak in the nation and tied for the third-longest winning streak in school history.

Fans can follow the Aggie football program at twitter.com/USUFootball. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on facebook at Utah State University Athletics.

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