Third and Long

NASHVILLE — For the second-straight season five different Ohio Valley Conference schools received at least one first-place vote in the OVC preseason poll while Jacksonville State picked up the most first-place votes (11) and was tabbed the 2010 OVC preseason favorites in a vote of league head coaches and sports information directors.
The 11 votes were out of 18 total votes, putting the Gamecocks (120 points) atop the preseason poll for the third time since joining the league in 2003. Eastern Illinois, last year?s champion, picked up four first-place votes (114 total points) and were just six total points behind Jax State. Eastern Kentucky (102 points), Tennessee Tech (78 points) and Tennessee State (70 points) each received one first-place vote apiece and were picked third, fourth and fifth respectively. The preseason poll was rounded out by UT Martin (59), Austin Peay and Southeast Missouri tying for seventh (38) and Murray State (29).
Jacksonville State finished with the best record in the OVC last season (8-3 overall, 6-1 OVC) but was ineligible for the Conference crown because of a NCAA postseason ban due to an APR penalty. The Gamecocks, however, are once again eligible for the title and NCAA postseason this season and will look to win its third OVC crown with a group of 46 returning letterwinners.
After being picked first in each of the past two seasons Eastern Kentucky was tabbed third this year. The Colonels struggled down the stretch last year losing its last three games and four of its last five contests to finish at 5-6, the first losing season for the program since 1972.
Despite the late skid, EKU was in the thick of the OVC race and would have shared the overall championship had the team topped Jacksonville State on the final weekend of the season. Eastern will look to sophomore quarterback T.J. Pryor to lead the offensive attack. Last season Pryor picked up OVC Freshman of the Year honors after finishing fourth in the league with 2,153 passing yards and accounting for 10 total touchdowns. Despite having just five starters back on offense, Eastern has eight of 11 starters back on the defensive side of the ball, a strength under defensive-minded head coach Dean Hood.
Among those starters are three preseason All-OVC selections in senior defensive lineman Andrew Soucy, senior linebacker Jordan Dalrymple and junior cornerback Jeremy Caldwell. Caldwell has been named to the Sports Network’s Buck Buchanan Watch List, an award given to the nation’s top FCS defensive player. Caldwell had seven interceptions in 2009, a mark that ranked fourth nationally.