Joshua Kelley is UCLA’s only member of All-Pac-12 first or second teams

Joshua Kelley saved UCLA one final time Tuesday when the running back was selected a member of the All-Pac-12 Conference second team, becoming the only Bruin picked for either the first or second team.

It’s the second consecutive year that UCLA did not have a first-team all-conference selection on defense and the first time since 2011 that the Bruins didn’t have any defensive players on the first or second team.

UCLA redshirt junior tight end Devin Asiasi, senior linebacker Krys Barnes, junior cornerback Darnay Holmes and graduate transfer punter Wade Lees were honorable mention selections in voting by the conference’s head coaches. The Bruins finished 4-8 during their second season under coach Chip Kelly, a one-game improvement from 2018.

Kelley, the onetime walk-on who transferred from UC Davis before playing his final two seasons for the Bruins, became only the eighth player in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons after compiling 1,060 yards this season in just 11 games after sitting out the season opener with a knee injury. His 96.4 yards rushing per game and 12 rushing touchdowns were second in the conference, trailing only the production of Utah’s Zack Moss.

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Asiasi caught 44 passes for 641 yards and four touchdowns while becoming a bigger part of UCLA’s offensive plan late in the season. Over the Bruins’ final three games, Asiasi averaged six catches for 104 yards, including a five-catch, 141-yard performance against USC.

Barnes compiled 74 tackles, including 10 for losses, along with a career-high four sacks. After being slowed early in the season by an ankle injury, Holmes finished with 34 tackles, including a career-high 10 against USC, to go with a team-leading two interceptions.

Lees, who spent his final college season with the Bruins after transferring from Maryland, averaged 42.9 yards per punt, good for sixth place in the Pac-12, and placed 18 kicks inside the 20-yard line. He booted a career-high 72-yard punt against Cincinnati.