E.A. Sports Today




Home / FEATURED / JSU picked No. 1; 8 players honored

JSU picked No. 1; 8 players honored

John Grass addresses the OVC media for the first time as Jacksonville State's head coach Monday. In the main photo, Chris Landrum (R) and Grass talk about the season ahead. (Photos courtesy Ohio Valley Conference)

John Grass addresses the OVC media for the first time as Jacksonville State’s head coach Monday. In the main photo, Chris Landrum (R) and Grass talk about the season ahead. (Photos courtesy Ohio Valley Conference)


UPDATED

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

Following the lead of league media, the Ohio Valley Conference football coaches and publicists have tabbed Jacksonville State as the favorites to win the league title this season.

The Gamecocks, a consensus Top 10 team in the preseason national polls, gained 10 of the 18 first-place votes and 118 points. In a departure from the media vote announced Friday, two-time defending champion Eastern Illinois was picked second ahead of Tennessee State; both teams received four first-place votes.

“I think it’s a great thing,” JSU first-year head coach John Grass said during Monday’s OVC Media Day in Nashville. “I told the team the other day who would like to be fourth and sixth in two national polls and picked to win the OVC? How many other teams in our conference, in the country, would like to have the opportunity to sit where we’re sitting?

“We’re given an opportunity; it’s what we do with it. The 2014 team hasn’t done anything yet. To me, it (the polls and preseason rankings) has no teeth, but it goes along with where our goals are as a program. … We’re going to get everybody’s A-game anyway, so I’d rather be picked to win the conference.”

In addition to picking the Gamecocks No. 1, the coaches and publicists also selected eight JSU players to the preseason all-conference team.

That group is led by Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Damarcus James and includes quarterback Eli Jenkins, receiver Josh Barge, offensive linemen Max Holcombe and Blake Burks, defensive linemen Caleb Lawrence and Chris Landrum, and punter Hamish MacInnes.

James set the JSU single-season rushing record with 1,477 yards last season and set the OVC mark with 29 rushing touchdowns. The Gamecocks set nearly 50 school records during last year’s 11-4 campaign that ended with a loss at Eastern Washington in the FCS quarterfinals.

“We had a good season last season,” Landrum said. “We just want to be better than we were last season.”

Eastern Illinois also placed eight players on the preseason all-conference team. Tennessee State had six, led by Preseason Defensive Player of the Year senior defensive end Anthony Bass.

Here is the complete poll:

Jacksonville State (10) 118
Eastern Illinois (4) 110
Tennessee State (4) 107
Eastern Kentucky 82
UT Martin 79
Murray State 54
Tennessee Tech 48
Southeast Missouri 34
Austin Peay 16

The Gamecocks also were picked as preseason favorites in 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2011.

“I think it can go both ways,” Holcombe said of the expectations that come with being picked No. 1. “It can be a good thing in you have high expectations for your team, but it also could be a bad thing in you could get a big head.

“Personally I don’t like being picked the best, being the favorite; I like being the underdog because nobody thinks you have a shot at it. With us being picked where we’re at we’re going to have to go out every week and show why they picked us to be the conference winners.”

You must be logged in to post a comment Login