Marin Briefs:
OT made First-Team All-Mountain West
MC grad Snyder named conference Player of the Year by PFF,
A little over a week after being named to the All-Mountain West FirstTeam, San Jose State offensive tackle Jack Snyder, a former Marin Catholic standout, was named the Conference Player of the Year by Pro Football Focus. Snyder was selected based on PFF grades and advanced statistics.
PFF called Snyder “the biggest dark horse winner” on their list of other conference players of the year, which includes Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, Alabama quarterback Mac Jones and Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler.
“While he was known as one of the top tackles in the conference entering the year, he wasn’t quite at an elite level to think he could ever win PFF Mountain West Player of the Year. But here we are,” PFF wrote. “The fifth-year senior came into the campaign with three years of starting experience under his belt and showed nice growth each year by boosting his PFF grade from 64.7 to 71.2 to 77.0.”
That grade jumped to a 91.2 this past season, a mark that trailed only two other players in the country for the best among all FBS left tackles.
“He routinely created wide- open gaps for the ground game and netted the third- highest positively graded runblock rate among FBS tackles,” PFF continued. “The backbone of Snyder’s success came when protecting the passer, though. He ranked second among all FBS tackles in pass- blocking grade and allowed just two pressures — neither of which were a sack or hit — on 282 such snaps over seven games.”
San Jose State (7- 0) is currently in the midst of its best season since the 1930s. They won their f irst Mountain West Championship last week and are currently ranked at No. 19 by the AP and at No. 22 by the College Football Playoff committee.
The Spartans are set to face Ball State (6-1) in the Arizona Bowl on Dec. 31.
College sports
The PacWest Conference approved the schedules for men’s and women’s soccer and basketball for the four schools that make up the conference’s Northern California pod, which includes Dominican University.
In an announcement on Wednesday, the conference detailed that the duration of the men’s and women’s basketball seasons will be 12 games with each school playing the others four times in a series of rotating home-andaway matchups.
The season is currently slated to start on Jan. 22 with the Dominican men and women hosting the Academy of Art. Dominican will then play at Academy of Art the following day. The season will follow that homeandaway doubleheader pattern for the next six weeks. The final week of the schedule is being left open to provide rescheduling flexibility should contests be interrupted by COVID-19.
Postseason play for basketball is scheduled to begin the second week of March.
The men’s and women’s soccer seasons will be played in a six-game double round-robin format. The season will start in early February and end in early March.
Wednesday’s release also said that conference’s return to play is return to play is” contingent upon compliance with the guidelines set forth by local, state and national authorities as well as those set out by the NCAA.”
Ace
Josh McFerron of San Anselmo hit a hole- inone at Indian Valley Golf Club on Dec. 10. McFerron dropped in his ace on the fourth hole using a wedge from 125 yards out.