Ohio Valley Conference

Back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference titles have made Jacksonville State the overwhelming favorite to capture a third straight football crown in 2005, according to a preseason poll of the league’s head football coaches and sports information directors. The Gamecocks earned 15 first-place nods, while last season’s co-runners up Eastern Kentucky and Murray State split the remaining three votes. EKU claimed one first-place vote and was picked to finish second while MSU earned two first-place votes and was chosen third. Eastern Illinois and Tennessee Tech were picked to finish fourth and fifth, respectively. Rounding out the field were Samford, Tennessee State, Southeast Missouri and Tennessee-Martin.

Jacksonville State returns 15 starters from last year’s championship squad that lost just one Conference game (7-1) en route to a 9-2 overall record and a berth in the 2004 NCAA I-AA Playoffs. The Gamecocks welcome back two seniors, quarterback Maurice Mullins and guard Rod Olds, to help guide an offense that racked up league-highs of 444.5 yards and 37.5 points per game a year ago. Defensively, JSU held on to three of its top six tacklers from 2004, including sophomore safety Kenny Brown.

Eastern Kentucky brings back 13 starters from last year’s co-runner up squad that overcame an 0-3 start to win six of its final eight games and finished 6-5 overall, including 6-2 in Conference play. The bulk of the Colonels’ offense returns for 2005, including senior All-OVC receiver Andre Ralston and sophomore quarterback Josh Greco. On the defensive side of the ball, senior linebacker Jerome Jones is the lone all-conference performer from last season’s squad.

Murray State also shook off a sluggish 3-4 start to last season, winning its final four games to tie for second place at 6-2 in the league (7-4 overall). The Racers have 10 returning starters, including the running back tandem of junior Chad Cook and senior Nick Turner. Senior All-OVC cornerback Onsha Whittaker will be the cornerstone for rebuilding a defensive unit that lost nine starters after holding opponents to league-lows of 300.9 yards and 20 points per game in 2004.

2005 OVC FOOTBALL PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1 - Jacksonville State (15 first-place votes) - 127 points
2 - Eastern Kentucky (1 first-place vote) - 108 points
3 - Murray State (2 first-place votes) - 94 points
4 - Eastern Illinois - 81 points
5 - Tennessee Tech - 72 points
6 - Samford - 49 points
7 - Tennessee State - 47 points
8 - Southeast Missouri - 45 points
9 - Tennessee-Martin - 25 points


EASTERN ILLINOIS LEADS PRESEASON ALL-OVC FOOTBALL TEAM
Eastern Illinois led all schools with six players selected to the 2005 Preseason All-OVC football team in voting by the league’s head football coaches and sports information directors. Twenty players who earned either first or second-team All-OVC honors a year ago were among the 26 selected to the squad. Tennessee-Martin placed five players on the preseason all-conference team, while Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Murray State and Tennessee Tech each had three players chosen.

Leading the offensive unit is senior quarterback Maurice Mullins of Jacksonville State, who boasted the league’s top pass efficiency rating (147.7) in 2004 while throwing for 1,396 yards. Making the team at running back were Tennessee-Martin’s Donald Chapman (246-1,084 yds, 7 TD’s), the 2004 OVC Freshman of the Year, and Eastern Illinois junior Vincent Webb (228-1,106 yds., 12 TD’s). Earning picks at wide receiver were Eastern Illinois junior Ryan Voss (46-784 yds., 7 TD’s) and Tennessee-Martin junior Taurean Stephens (67-732 yds., 6 TD’s). Eastern Kentucky junior Patrick Bugg was chosen for the tight end position, while Jacksonville State senior Rod Olds leads five all-conference honorees on the offensive line after receiving first-team All-OVC accolades in 2004.

Eight of the 13 players on the defensive side captured All-OVC honors last season. Tennessee Tech senior Yusuf Sharif, a first team pick in 2004, heads a quartet of all-conference returnees on the defensive line, while Eastern Kentucky senior Jerome Jones is the lone all-conference performer among the four linebackers chosen to the preseason squad. Three of the four members of the secondary were All-OVC picks in 2004, including senior defensive back Cortland Finnegan, who was a first-team honoree.

Each of the three players chosen to the special teams unit received all-conference recognition in 2004. Jacksonville State junior return specialist Craig Agee made the list after leading the nation last season with a 20.5 punt return average. Southeast Missouri junior punter David Simonhoff ranked second in the country with an OVC-record 46-yard punt average a year ago, while Tennessee Tech senior placekicker Josh Foster nailed a league-high 14 field goals in 2004.

2005 PRESEASON ALL-OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE FOOTBALL TEAM
OFFENSE
QB - Maurice Mullins, Sr., Jacksonville State
RB - Donald Chapman, So., Tennessee-Martin
RB - Vincent Webb, Jr., Eastern Illinois
WR - Ryan Voss, Jr., Eastern Illinois
WR - Taurean Stephens, Jr., Tennessee-Martin
TE - Patrick Bugg, Jr., Eastern Kentucky
OL - Sean Dumford, So., Eastern Kentucky
OL - Pascal Matla, Sr., Eastern Illinois
OL - Rod Olds, Sr., Jacksonville State
OL - Steve Sobolewski, Jr., Eastern Illinois
OL - Eugene Russell, Murray State
PK - Josh Foster, Sr., Tennessee Tech
RS - Craig Agee, Jr., Jacksonville State

DEFENSE
DL - Almonte Duncan, Jr., Tennessee State
DL - Kory Lothe, Sr., Eastern Illinois
DL - Yusuf Sharif, Sr., Tennessee Tech
DL - Andre Plummer, Jr., Tennessee-Martin
LB - Jerome Jones, Sr. Eastern Kentucky
LB - Markeseo Jackson, Jr., Tennessee-Martin
LB - Rick Schultz, Sr., Murray State
LB - Craig Simonton, Jr., Tennessee Tech
DB - Onsha Whittaker, Sr., Murray State
DB - Cortland Finnegan, Sr., Samford
DB - Ben Brown, Jr., Eastern Illinois
DB - Jason Coleman, Sr., Tennessee-Martin
P - David Simonhoff, Jr., Southeast Missouri

Four linebackers were chosen due to a tie in the voting.