The Cougar third baseman was previously named 2023 West Coast Conference Co-Player of the Year and was recognized as Third Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball. He joins former BYU All-American Brandon Taylor from 2005 as the second Cougar to be named District Player of the Year in the 25-year history of the award.

Deming, who represents District 8 (Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Montana and Wyoming), joins eight other student-athletes who received the award in one of the nine districts. Other NCBWA District Players of the Year include, Jeremiah Jenkins of Maine (District 1), JJ Wetherholt of West Virginia (District 2), Jac Caglianone of Florida (District 3), Rhett Lowder of Wake Forest (District 4), Brock Vradenburg of Michigan State (District 5), Max Anderson of Nebraska (District 6), teammates Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes of LSU (District 7) and Alberto Rios of Stanford (District 9).

Deming of Santa Clara, Utah, won the WCC regular-season triple crown with a league-leading .418 batting average, 19 home runs and 68 RBI during the 2023 season.

He led the WCC in nine offensive categories during the 2023 regular season. In addition to batting average, home runs and RBI, he also led the league in slugging (.915), total bases (151), hits per game (1.68), RBI per game (1.66), home runs per game (.46) and doubles per game (.56).

Deming was also a semifinalist for the prestigious Dick Howser Trophy, awarded annually by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association to the nation’s top college baseball player.

Nationally, Deming finished the regular season ranked top 10 in seven offensive categories, including, No. 1 in doubles per game, slugging (2nd), RBI per game (4th), HR per game (6th), batting average (9th), doubles (9th) and hits per game (10th).

A two-time First Team All-WCC honoree, Deming played in 171 games in his BYU career from 2019-23. Over the past two seasons he was named WCC Player of the Week three times and was recognized as national player of the week by four different organizations on April 7 during the 2023 season.

In addition to all the success on the field, Deming graduated from BYU in April 2023 with a degree in communications, with a journalism emphasis.

Fueger honored by TopConnect

BYU men’s basketball assistant coach Cody Fueger will participate in the prestigious 2023 TopConnect Basketball Symposium taking place on Monday, June 12, in Orlando, Fla.

Fueger, who was named as one of the most impactful assistant coaches in NCAA Division I men’s basketball by Silver Waves Media for a second straight year last month, is entering his fifth season as an assistant at BYU where the Cougars have gone 87-41 including two postseason appearances.

TopConnect (formerly Villa 7), originated in 2003 by then VCU Athletic Director Dr. Richard Sander, identifies the top assistant basketball coaches in the country and connects them with mid-major Athletic Directors providing tremendous networking and leadership development opportunities for both parties.

In its sixth year, TopConnect develops educational programming that allows these top assistant coaches to hear from a wide variety of successful leaders and speakers. The 2023 symposium is headlined by a panel of prominent, successful, and new head coaches in Brenda “Mock” Brown, Head Women’s Basketball Coach at East Tennessee State Brooks Savage, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at East Tennessee State, Kevin Kuwik, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at West Point and Jordan Mincy, Jacksonville.

Athletic Directors presenting include, Mark Wharton, Chattanooga; Anthony Henderson, Hampton; Alex Ricker-Gilbert, Jacksonville. Also, joining the lineup are influential speakers Kristi Dosh, founder of Business of College Sports; Colton Houston, HD Intelligence; Jeff Schemmel, College Sport Solutions and Rick Boyages of ShotQuality.

Panel discussions and breakout sessions include First-time Head Coaches, The AD / Coach Relationship, Taking the Reins (of an existing program), NIL and Athletic Director panel.

The fan-favorite “Speed Dating” returns and allows for rapid networking to take place between the assistant coaches and administrators.

The three-word mantra of “Connect. Prepare. Lead.” identifies the purpose of TopConnect.

Since the inception of TopConnect in 2018, more than 50 assistant coach and assistant athletic director participants have been promoted to the next chair of head coach and athletic director as well as a conference commissioner.

TopConnect is on all social media platforms @TopConnectLead. If you have questions regarding TopConnect, please contact Dr. Richard Sander at docsander30@gmail.com. TopConnect works in conjunction with Connected Media, LLC, East Tennessee State University’s Doctoral program in Global Sport Leadership, #INFLCR and Teamworks.