(STATS) – A four-game winning streak to end last season still fuels Eastern Kentucky eight months later.
“I feel like we still have the momentum,” junior defensive back Josh Hayes says.
The big finish allowed the Colonels to have their best season since 2014 – a 7-4 overall record and a 5-2 mark in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The feeling is this season the Colonels will pick up where they left off and possibly challenge for an FCS playoff appearance. They were picked third behind defending champ Jacksonville State and Southeast Missouri in the OVC’s preseason poll at Monday’s media day.
That level is more like it for a storied program that has been to the playoffs 21 times and won a pair of national championships as well as 21 conference titles. Prior to last season, they suffered through back-to-back losing records for the first time since 1963 and ’64.
“I know this, I know that there’s a lot more competitive depth that we’ve got this year than we’ve ever had before across the board,” fourth-year coach Mark Elder said.
Eastern Kentucky returns eight starters on each side of the ball and 48 of the 61 players listed on the season-ending two-deep. Quarterback Parker McKinney ended strong in his freshman campaign and will be in competition for the starting job with Oregon State transfer Conor Blount. Running back Daryl McCleskey Jr., defensive end Aaron Patrick and hybrid safety Leodis Morris III, who all made the All-OVC first team, are leading returnees.
After spring practice, Elder said he saw “a lot of carryover defensively from what we’ve done in the past. I think we just took some steps forward as a defense. We look like we’re a little more veteran as a team defensively and also as far as experience within our system – I think that you can just see it’s clicking very well for those guys. Then offensively, I thought that we progressed throughout spring as a unit together. So I’m very pleased with how that went with us advancing and getting better.
The Colonels and all of the other teams are chasing Jacksonville State, which has captured five straight OVC titles and won 39 of their last 40 conference games. They had the most selections seven on the OVC preseason team, led by preseason offensive player of the year Zerrick Cooper at quarterback.
Southeast Missouri was second with six selections, including preseason defensive player of the year Zach Hall, the 2018 STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award recipient.
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OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL
Head Coaches and Sports Information Directors Vote
1. Jacksonville State (14 first-place votes), 126 points
2. Southeast Missouri (4), 115
3. Eastern Kentucky, 98
4. Austin Peay, 70
5.(tie) Murray State, 61
5.(tie) Tennessee State, 61
7. UT Martin, 60
8. Eastern Illinois, 35
9. Tennessee Tech, 22
OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE PRESEASON TEAM
Offensive Player of the Year – Zerrick Cooper, QB, Jacksonville State
Defensive Player of the Year – Zach Hall, LB, Southeast Missouri State
Offense
QB – Zerrick Cooper, Jacksonville State
QB – Daniel Santacaterina, Southeast Missouri
RB – Kentel Williams, Austin Peay
RB – Daryl McCleskey Jr., Eastern Kentucky
WR – Josh Pearson, Jacksonville State
WR – Kristian Wilkerson, Southeast Missouri
WR – Chris Rowland, Tennessee State
TE – Trae Barry, Jacksonville State
C – Thomas Burton, Tennessee State
OG – Darius Anderson, Jacksonville State
OG – Raekwon Allen, Tennessee State
OT – Hunter Sosebee, Jacksonville State
OT – Kyle Anderton, Austin Peay
OT – Terry Fultz, UT Martin
Defense
DL – Aaron Patrick, Eastern Kentucky
DL – Julian Crutchfield, UT Martin
DL – Clarence Thornton, Southeast Missouri
DL – Terrell Greer, Eastern Illinois
DL – Austin Pickett, UT Martin
LB – Zach Hall, Southeast Missouri
LB – Jalen Choice, Jacksonville State
LB – Justin Swift, Southeast Missouri
DB – Marlon Bridges, Jacksonville State
DB – Bydarrius Knighten, Southeast Missouri
DB – Dajour Nesbeth, Tennessee State
DB – Leodis Moore III, Eastern Kentucky
Specialists
PK – Gabriel Vicente, Murray State
P – Steve Dawson, Murray State
RS – Malik Honeycutt, Murray State
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