• Complete Preseason FCS Coaches Poll
Three Ohio Valley Conference football teams are ranked in the Preseason FCS Coaches Top 25 poll which was released on Wednesday.
Defending champion
Jacksonville State was the highest-ranked OVC team at No. 9 while
Eastern Kentucky came in at No. 17 and
Eastern Illinois rounded out the poll at No. 25. A fourth OVC school,
UT Martin, was among the others receiving votes.
Four-time defending national champion North Dakota State was a unanimous selection at No. 1.
Jacksonville State, the OVC preseason favorite for the second-straight year, was 10-2 overall and 8-0 in OVC a season ago, finishing the year with a Top 10 national ranking and earning a berth in the FCS Playoffs. This year the team returns nine offensive and seven defensive starters and 12 players who were named to the Preseason All-OVC Team. Among the returning players is junior quarterback
Eli Jenkins who is 17-3 as JSU's starting quarterback over the past two seasons. Last year Jenkins threw for 1,870 yards and 12 touchdowns and rushed for 698 yards and six scores in leading the Jax State offensive attack. On the other side of the ball the Gamecocks had three defensive linemen were named Preseason All-OVC including senior
Devaunte Sigler who was tabbed the OVC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year after being named the 2014 Defensive Player of the Year at the conclusion of last season. JSU will open the season at No. 8 Chattanooga on September 5.
Eastern Kentucky finished second in the OVC last season and earned an at-large berth to the FCS Playoffs. This year the team was tabbed second in the Preseason OVC Media Poll and third in the Preseason OVC Coaches Poll. This year the Colonels return eight offensive and eight defensive starters from that team including Preseason Offensive Player of the Year
Dy'Shawn Mobley. In his first season with EKU, Mobley rushed for 20 touchdowns (the sixth-highest total nationally) and 1,491 yards (the 12th-most yards nationally) in earning OVC Offensive Player of the Year honors and being named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award. Mobley averaged 138.5 yards/game of total offense and tied an OVC record with six total touchdowns (5 rushing, 1 receiving) in a game. The offense is protected by an offensive line that includes a pair of players on the Preseason All-OVC Team in seniors
Trey Shelton and
Brett Eyckmans. A season ago the EKU defense ranked second nationally in turnovers gained with 33; this year the team will be bolstered by senior
Stanley Absanon who is a Preseason All-OVC selection after intercepting four passes a year ago. The Colonels defensive unit also includes Ohio State transfer
Noah Spence, who earned first-team All-Big Ten honors in 2013.
Eastern Illinois was tabbed second in the Preseason OVC Coaches Poll and third in the Preseason OVC Media Poll. Last year in its first season under head coach
Kim Dameron, the Panthers struggled out of the gate against a tough schedule (starting 1-5) but won four of its final six contests to finish 5-3 in OVC play and finish in a tie for third place. Returning is senior quarterback
Jalen Whitlow who passed for 2,075 yards and 15 touchdowns last year in addition to rushing for 792 yards and 12 scores in his first season after transferring from Kentucky. The 792 rushing yards were the most by a quarterback in EIU history. This season Whitlow will have the luxury of handing the ball off to a healthy
Shepard Little out of the backfield. Little battled injuries last year and still managed to rush for a team-high 797 yards; the year prior he gained 1,548 rushing yards from scrimmage.
The FCS Coaches Poll is based exclusively on a voting panel of head coaches in the FCS under the cooperation of the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and is administered by the Southern Conference.
The STATS Preseason FCS Media Poll will be released on Monday.