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TexasTerror
July 28th, 2007, 08:52 AM
Liberty was tabbed as favorite by the media, head coaches and SIDs yesterday. I'm surprised to see Chuck South fall as much as they did, but we'll see how the Big South shakes out. This could be another exciting year in the conference...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Liberty University has been tabbed as the favorite in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason football poll for the 2007 campaign, as voted by the League’s head coaches, sports information directors and media panel, it was announced today at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Concord, N.C. as part of the 2007 Big South Conference Football Kickoff Media Luncheon. It is the first time that the Flames have been tabbed the Conference’s preseason football favorite since the Big South began sponsoring the sport in 2002.

Liberty, fresh off a nationally-recognized turnaround in 2006, has already caught the attention of national media outlets. Lindy’s College Football Preview ranks the Flames at No. 25 in the country and also predicts Liberty will win its first Big South Conference football crown this season as well. The Flames also received Top 25 votes in the preseason AnyGivenSaturday.com and CollegeSportingNews.com polls. Liberty, which went 6-5 last year and posted a five-win improvement over 2005, returns 39 letterwinners and 20 starters in 2007. Danny Rocco’s squad received 12 first-place votes and 87 total points to supplant three-time Big South champion Coastal Carolina from the top spot. David Bennett’s Chanticleers, coming off their third-straight League title and the Conference’s and school’s first-ever berth in the FCS playoffs, finished second in this year’s preseason poll with seven first-place votes and 79 points.

2007 Preseason Poll (first-place votes) 1 2 3 4 5 Points
1. Liberty (12)...........................................60 20 3 4 -- 87
2. Coastal Carolina (7)..............................35 28 15 -- 1 79
3. Gardner-Webb (1)..................................5 28 21 8 1 63
4. Charleston Southern................................- 4 18 16 5 43
5. VMI............................................... ........- - 3 12 13 28

http://www.bigsouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4800&ATCLID=1138153

Sly Fox
July 28th, 2007, 11:05 AM
We may be the favorites, but everyone is gunning for the 3-time defending champs.

Sly Fox
July 28th, 2007, 12:46 PM
Oh yeah, check out the love the league was spreading on the Flames in the all-conference team:


OFFENSE
QB - Brock Smith, Liberty, Jr. (Hershey, Pa.)
RB - Rashad Jennings, Liberty, Jr. (Forest, Va.)
RB - Zach Terrell, Liberty, Jr. (Manasses Park, Va.)
WR - Jerome Simpson, Coastal Carolina, Sr. (Reidsville, N.C.)
WR - Duvaughn Flagler, Gardner-Webb, Sr. (Norcross, Ga.)
WR - Brandon Turner, Liberty, Sr. (Gretna, Va.)
TE - Chris Luck, Liberty, Sr. (Montvale, Va.)
OL - Stephen Sene, Liberty, R-Sr. (Columbia, S.C.)
OL - Demario Deese, Gardner-Webb, Jr. (Charlotte, N.C.)
OL - Rick Howell, Charleston Southern, Sr. (Satellite Beach, Fla.)
OL - Robert Brown, VMI, Sr. (Mesquite, Texas)
OL - Eddie Pinigis, Liberty, R-Sr. (Forest, Va.)

DEFENSE
DL - Brian Johnston, Gardner-Webb, Sr. (San Diego, Calif.)
DL - Dennis Justiniani, Charleston Southern, Sr. (Huntington Beach, Calif.)
DL - Adrain Grady, Coastal Carolina, R-Sr. (Leland, N.C.)
DL - Steven Ackley, Liberty, R-Sr. (Columbia, Tenn.)
LB - Mario E. Brown, Gardner-Webb, Jr. (Greenville, S.C.)
LB - Jada Ross, Charleston Southern, Sr. (Summerville, S.C.)
LB - Stevie Ray Lloyd, Liberty, R-Sr. (Lynchburg, Va.)
LB - Mike Pavelko, Gardner-Webb, Jr. (Eden Prairie, Minn.)
DB - C.J. Hirschman, Charleston Southern, Sr. (Jacksonville, Fla.)
DB - Daniel Cooke, Gardner-Webb, Jr. (Charlotte, N.C.)
DB - Ryan Greiser, Liberty, Jr. (Quakertown, Pa.)
DB - Okeba Rollinson, Charleston Southern, R-Jr. (Gastonia, N.C.)

SPECIAL TEAMS
PK - Nick Ellis, Charleston Southern, Sr. (Stockbridge, Ga.)
P - Michael Hanna, Gardner-Webb, Jr. (Lawrenceville, Ga.)
LS - David McCarthy, Gardner-Webb, Jr. (Irmo, S.C.)
RS - Wynton Jackson, Liberty, R-Sr. (Jacksonville, Fla.)

PRESEASON OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jerome Simpson, WR, Sr., Coastal Carolina

PRESEASON DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Brian Johnston, DE, Sr., Gardner-Webb

Click Here for Full Story (http://www.bigsouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4800&ATCLID=1138180)

Smendy
July 28th, 2007, 04:05 PM
Just checked the blog over at draft daddy, because the do a great job breaking FCS news, and they had some fascinating comments regarding the Big South All-Conference team.

They even linked a story that states G.W's Brian Johnston is so high on the NFL's radar, that the Senior Bowl is already watching out for him xhurrayx


http://www.draftdaddy.com/blog/blog.cfm

The Gadfly
July 29th, 2007, 12:37 PM
Man . . . there's no way we have a chance without so many "stars". xcoolx

CSUBUCDAD
July 29th, 2007, 03:12 PM
And we get lucky and get them and Coastal back to back at the end of the season. Oughta be a real interesting end to this years season for the BUCS.