Eastern Kentucky was picked the preseason favorite this season, marking the 12th time in the last 25 years the Colonels have been picked the preseason favorite in the OVC race.
Last season Eastern Kentucky finished in a three-way tie for the OVC Championship, winning its 21st league title, which is the most conference championships by one team in Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) history. The Colonels also received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs, marking its 20th appearance in the event, which is the second most in NCAA history. This season the Colonels return 10 offensive and seven defensive starters from that team that lost to James Madison by three points in the playoffs.
Among the returning starters for head coach Dean Hood is senior running back Matt Denham, who is one of 20 players on the Walter Payton Award Watch List. Despite not starting until the fifth game of the season, Denham rushed for 1,570 yards and nine touchdowns in earning All-American honors. Over the final eight games of the season Denham ran for 100 or more yards in each contest (the only player nationally to do so) and averaged 184.5 yards/game (the most nationally over that stretch). Senior quarterback T.J. Pryor is poised to become EKU’s all-time passing leader this season; Pryor needs just 622 yards to set the all-time record. Among the team’s defensive returning stars is junior Anthony Brown who is making the switch from defensive line to linebacker in 2012. As a lineman last year Brown had 72 tackles, 10.5 tackles-for-loss and 3.5 sacks. Overall EKU had 10 of the 26 total players selected to the Preseason All-OVC squad.
BELOW VIDEOS
Head Coach Dean Hood
RB Matt Denham
DB Justin Bell
OVC INSIDER: Insights, analysis and a behind-the-scenes look at the Ohio Valley Conference.
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