Northwest Notes: Manzardo, Coffey honored

Kyle Manzardo Named Pac-12 Player of the Week

SAN FRANCISCO - Washington State first baseman Kyle Manzardo was named Pac-12 Conference Player of the Week, conference office announced Monday.

Manzardo, a former Lake City High School standout, earns his first Pac-12 Player of the Week honor of the season and second of his career after earning the final award in 2020.

In WSU’s four games last week against Seattle U and No. 16 UCLA, the junior hit .533 (8-15) with seven runs scored, one double, two homers, eight RBI, a .632 on-base percentage and slugged 1.000. Manzardo opened the week going 4-for-4 with a home run and five RBI in the win over Seattle U, later singled and scored twice in WSU’s series-opening win over No. 16 UCLA, hit a go-ahead homer and doubled Saturday against UCLA and scored two more in the Sunday’s finale.

He enters the week leading the Pac-12 in RBI (54), tied for second in doubles (17), tied for fourth in home runs (11) and fourth in batting average (.386). The Coeur d’Alene native is the only player in the country with 17 doubles, 10+ home runs and 50+ RBI.

Coffey earns All-America honors for third time

Two Idaho Vandals and two Eastern Washington Eagles took home Stats Perform FCS All-America honors, as announced on Monday.

Idaho junior linebacker Tre Walker earned the first team nod, while senior punter Cade Coffey took home second team honors.

EWU qukarterback Eric Barriere — one of three finalists for the Walter Payton Award to be announced later this week – became the seventh first team All-American in school history.

Wide receiver Talolo Limu-Jones was picked for the second team.

Walker earned All-Big Sky First Team honors in unanimous fashion last month after leading the conference with 13.5 tackles per game. He finished the shortened spring season with 54 tackles over just four games, including recording 13-plus tackles three times. It is Walker’s second All-America honor of his career, after earning HERO Sports Sophomore All-America honors in 2019.

Coffey, from Lakeland High, led the Big Sky in net punting at just under 44.0 yards per punt, the second best average in program history. He also finished second in the conference in punting average at 45.8 yards. In total, Coffey dropped 16-of-26 punts inside the opponent’s 20.

Walker was a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, presented annually to the national defensive player of the year in FCS.

Coffey earned All-Big Sky second team recognition as a punter and honorable mention honors as a kicker. This is the third time that Coffey has earned All-America honors, after doing so as both a freshman and a sophomore.

Barriere was the Offensive Player of the Year in the Big Sky. Through seven games, Barriere ranked in the top 10 in FCS in total offense (sixth, 369.0 per game), passing offense (seventh, 348.4), passing touchdowns (second, 19) and points responsible for (ninth, 17.4 per game). In the 2020-21 season, he completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 2,439 yards, 19 touchdowns and 2,583 total yards of offense.

Limu-Jones ended the season fourth in FCS in receiving yards per game (108.4) and was is ninth in receptions per game (6.9, total of 48).