Utah Utes football: Zane Beadles named MWC scholar

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Zane Beadles, a first-team All-American as a senior on the University of Utah football team last year, has been named the 2009-10 Mountain West Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Beadles, who is now playing for the Denver Broncos as a second-round draft pick, graduated from Utah last December with a 3.568 cumulative GPA and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. A four-time Academic all-MWC honoree, Beadles was a 2009 ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA second-team Academic All-American and the recipient of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. He was a finalist for the 2009 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award and Wuerffel Trophy.

Beadles was also active in the community, serving as a mentor to local elementary students, participating in campus blood drives, conducting numerous speaking engagements and sitting on the university's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. For his senior design project, he was involved in the fabrication of a hybrid-powered residential wheelchair lift for residents in New Orleans.

Beadles becomes the fifth Utah player to earn MWC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors. Others were track and cross country runner Teren Jameseon in 2001-02, gymnasts Shannon Bowles (2001-02) and Theresa Kulikowski (2002-03), and safety Morgan Scalley in 2004-05. Scalley is now an assistant coach on the Utah football staff.