New season of the OVC Insider!

The 1st episode of season 2 of the OVC Insider, a weekly show about the happenings of the Ohio Valley Conference. Hosted by OVC interns Olivia Walter and Patrick Robinson.

Football Gameplan Breaks Down 2011 OVC Football Season

Football Gameplan has been breaking down every Division I football conference and today came out with a video preview of the OVC. Check out the 11-minute video below that looks at some of the top players in the league and then a prediction of how the league will shake out this season.

Here are the predictions made by Football Gameplan. What do you think?

1. Murray State
2. UT Martin
3. Jacksonville State
4. Tennessee Tech

5. Eastern Kentucky
6. Eastern Illinois
7. Southeast Missouri
8. Tennessee State
9. Austin Peay

OVC Women’s Soccer Preseason Starts

Women’s soccer preseason has begun in the OVC and teams are playing in their exhibition matches to work out the final kinks before the regular season starts on August 19^th. With strong performances from many freshman players in the league the Ohio Valley Conference teams have a lot to look forward to with their upcoming seasons approaching. Here is a look at what has happened around the league last week in women’s soccer.

Austin Peay: The Governors started off strong with a 5-0 win over Freed Hardeman Friday night. Senior Jocelyn Murdoch tallied two goals in the first exhibition match for the team. With this unlimited substitution match head coach Kelley Guth was able to rest some players and spread minutes amongst the team.

To top off the weekend the Lady Govs had a strong second half against Saint Louis to propel them to a 3-2 win over the Billikens. Sophomore Tatiana Ariza scored a hat trick in the game scoring all three goal in the second half. Austin Peay is now looking to their season opener against Alabama A&M this Friday.

Eastern Illinois: The Panthers fell in their 2-1 in their exhibition match against the Indiana State Sycamores. Freshman Brooke Sill finished the Panthers lone goal off of a corner kick early in the match but it was not enough to hold off the Sycamores.

The Panthers had another tough loss in Saturday’s exhibition against Evansville. The Evansville Purple Aces scored an early goal in the opening minute to hold off the Panthers. The Panthers will look to open their season against Northern Iowa, Friday on the road.

Eastern Kentucky: In Eastern Kentucky’s lone exhibition match of the season the Colonels tied IPFW 1-1. Freshman Devon Saini finished her collegiate goal in their Friday night game against the Mastadons. Saini’s goal was a powerful shot from 20 yards out to beat IPFW goalkeeper Kristen McFadden. The Colonels’ season opener will be at home against a tough Louisville Cardinal team this Friday.

Jacksonville State: The Jacksonville State Gamecocks played an away match against Kennesaw State in preparation for their upcoming season. The game resulted in a 1-1 tie with Gamecocks’ junior Nathalee Lariviere scoring in the 23^rd minute. Jacksonville State will begin its 16^th season against Mercer on Friday.

Morehead State: The Eagles, who are favored to take first in the OVC this year, had a game at Indiana State for their lone exhibition match on Friday. Freshman Elizabeth Tresnak started her career as an Eagle strong with a goal to finish the game at a 1-1 tie. Tresnak scored her first goal 10 minutes into the second half to give Morehead the lead but unfortunately the Sycamores were able to respond 15 minutes later with a goal by senior Jessica Rosenberg. The regular season opener for Morehead will be against Valparaiso University this Friday.

Murray State: The Racers started off their preseason with their annual Blue/Gold scrimmage last week. This was a good opportunity for the players to get their first look at competitive action in the season. Freshman Julie Mooney scored the first goal in the scrimmage for the blue squad but the game was soon equalized by Veronika Pribyslavaka.

In their first exhibition match against UT-Chattanooga the Racers fell in a 2-1 loss. Murray State went down early in the first half and was unable to come back from the deficit. Murray State will play their final exhibition match today, Monday Aug. 15, against Bethel. This will be their last opportunity to prepare for their season opener against Ball State.

Southeast Missouri: The Redhawks, another favorite this year in the OVC, had a tough exhibition match against Iowa State. The Redhawks fell to the Cyclones 5-0. Southeat Missouri will look to have a stronger start in their season opener against Illinois State Friday in Normal, Illinois.

SIU Edwardsville: The SIU Edwardsville Cougars also found Iowa State to be a hard opponent to beat in their exhibition match 6-1 loss. Freshman forward Michelle Auer scored the lone goal for the Cougars in the 34^th minute. SIUE looks forward to their season opener this Friday night against Youngstown State in Kansas City, Mo.

Tennessee Tech: The Golden Eagles lone exhibition match against Alabama A&M was cancelled early last week but that did not stop the team from having a strong preparation in their preseason. Head coach Daniel Brizard has seen a strong sense of determination in his team as they set to begin his second season as head coach at Tennessee Tech. The Golden Eagles will look to test this determination in their season opener against UT Chattanooga on Friday followed by another test on Sunday against Belmont.

UT Martin: The Skyhawks played a close game against SEC opponent Ole Miss on Saturday night. A penalty kick in the 65^th minute pushed the Ole Miss Rebels to a 1-0 victory over UT Martin. Freshman goalkeeper Mariah Klenke had an impressive debut for the Skyhawks that resulted in 5 saves during the match. This was a great opportunity for the Skyhawks to spread the minutes among many players, giving 18 players playing time. TheSkyhawks will begin their regular season with a home game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff this Friday.

Former TSU Great Richard Dent's Hall of Fame Induction Speech

Former Tennessee State great Richard Dent was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on August 6. Here is what he said in his acceptance speech.

Around the Ohio Valley - May 19

Austin Peay: For the first time since 2007, the Austin Peay baseball team has claimed the OVC Baseball regular season championship. The Governors locked up the championship last Sunday with a victory over Southeast Missouri. The title is even more satisfying for the program when you consider they did not make the OVC Championship field (six teams) each of the past two years. Ticket information for the 2011 OVC Baseball Championship (which is May 25-29 at Pringles Park in Jackson, Tenn.) can be found HERE.

Eastern Kentucky: Although the EKU men's golf team came up short of winning the OVC Team Championship, the Colonels Johan Eriksson shared medalist honors and received an automatic individual berth to the NCAA Regionals. Eriksson was assigned to the Central Regional in Zionsville, Ind. which begins on Thursday. EKUColonels.com takes a look at Eriksson chances at the event.

Eastern Illinois: The EIU men's track and field team was ranked 11th in the final Midwest Region poll of the regular season released by the USTFCCCA. Overall the Panthers were 57th nationally. The rankings are projections based on how athletes would fare at the NCAA Championships. Individually Zye Boey was 13th in the 100 meters and 17th in the 200 meters while Mick Viken is ranked seventh in the pole vault. This past week the EIU athletic department announced its student-athletes had a combined 3.08 G.P.A. for the spring semester, as 57 percent of its student-athletes had a G.P.A. of 3.00 or higher. In addition 15 of the Panthers 19 intercollegiate teams had combined G.P.A.'s of 3.00 or higher and 54 student-athletes had perfect 4.0's.

Jacksonville State: The Jacksonville State softball team will play in its fourth-straight NCAA Tournament this weekend. After winning the OVC Championship last weekend in Charleston, Ill., the Gamecocks were picked to play in the Louisville Regional and open play on Friday (May 20) against No. 7 California. Daniel Paulling of the Birmingham News takes a look at the JSU softball team and how they overcame a poor finish to the regular season to win the OVC Championship. The softball team is the first Gamecock program to make four consecutive postseason trips since the school became a Division I program.

Morehead State: If you search the internet you can find a new and different NBA Mock Draft every day. Every outlet has an opinion of where they think forward/center Kenneth Faried will go in this year's Draft (which will be held June 23). This mock draft from SB Nation has Faried going to the Golden State Warriors at No. 11, while this one at CSNPhilly.com thinks the 76ers should pick Faried at No. 16. If you take to Google you can find numerous other ones predicting Faried to go to a variety of teams in the first round. If Faried is picked in the first round (which he should be), he will be the first OVC player taken in the first round since Carlos Rogers was 11th overall in the 1994 NBA Draft.

Murray State: Although Murray State is currently going through the search for its next head coach, as Billy Kennedy announced on Monday he was taking over at Texas A&M, the school did announce that it will be playing in this year's 2011 Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage. The Racers will be paired with UC Irvine in the first round (Nov. 23) and play either host Alaska-Anchorage or Southern Miss in the second round on Nov. 25. The rest of the field includes Central Michigan, Dartmouth, New Mexico State and San Francisco. This will be the 34th annual Great Alaska Shootout.

Southeast Missouri: The Redhawks softball team made a great run through the OVC Championship last weekend in Charleston, Ill., making the Finals and playing eventual champion Jacksonville State to two title games. After trailing in the first championship game, freshman catcher Shelby Kuryllo hit a three-run walk-off home run to give the 5th-seeded Redhawks the 3-2 victory. The next day the team came up just short in falling to JSU by a 9-5 margin. Southeast Missouri finished the year 31-30 overall.

SIU Edwardsville: Earlier this week the NCAA announced the winners of its NCAA Public Recognition awards for high Academic Progress Rates (APR). SIUE led all OVC schools with five individual sports programs that were recognized, including men's cross country, women's tennis, women's golf, women's soccer and softball. As SIUE continues it reclassification to being a full Division I member, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Vahe Gregorian took a closer look at the school and how the process has been going. Finally, SIUE baseball coach Gary Collins is just two wins away from 1,000 for his career. Steve Porter of the Alton Telegraph wrote a story about Collins' career and reaching the milestone (which could potentially come this weekend against Eastern Kentucky).

Tennessee State: The Tennessee State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) recently received a 2011 Service Learning Award at the Community Partners Luncheon put on by the Service-Learning and Civic Engagement. The award was one of just six given out at the luncheon, which honors groups across the city of Nashville.

Tennessee Tech: Following the basketball season head coach Mike Sutton stepped down and long-time assistant coach Steve Payne assumed the head coaching duties for the Golden Eagles. The website National Hoops Report recently interviewed Payne to talk about the transition of taking over as head coach. In the sport of football Tennessee Tech recently announced is 2011 football schedule, which features a game at Football Bowl Subdivision foe Iowa.

UT Martin: One of the surprise men's basketball teams last year was UT Martin, as head coach Jason James took a young team and helped them develop over the season to earn the No. 8 seed in the OVC Championship Tournament and pull off an upset of No. 5 seed Tennessee State in the first round. Recently James announced the addition of five signees to his 2012 recruiting class. The group included three junior college transfers and two freshmen.

Belmont: Although not a member of the OVC until 2012-13, last Friday the OVC announced the Bruins will become the 12th member of the Conference. The Nashville school will play one final year in the Atlantic Sun before joining the OVC. This story has a link to all the news stories that were generated from last Friday's announcement.

Nashville's Fox17 Does Feature on Southeast Missouri Pitcher Jordan Underwood

Paul Jones from Fox17 in Nashville recently did a story on the inspirational story of Southeast Missouri State pitcher Jordan Underwood. Underwood's story has been documented here before, but he lost an eye in junior college after being struck by a line drive.

CLICK HERE to watch the story that Paul did a great job of telling.

Around the Ohio Valley- May 11

Austin Peay: Head Coach Dave Loos must be pretty happy that his 6-foot-4 TyShwan Edmondson will be returning to the Govs in the fall. Edmondson sent a letter to the NBA, and copied APSU, informing the league of his decision to withdraw his name from the upcoming draft. In the Leaf Chronicle Dave Loos stated that it might help Edmondson to return for a final year and maybe even position himself better for next year's draft... We will have to wait for the fish. The 17th Annual Governors Bass Tour has been delayed as a result of high waters due to recent rain fall. I am not sure if they throw the fish back or what, but I do know that the grand prize is worth $12,000 in merchandise! Check out the article on the Bass Tour, and maybe sign up.

Eastern Illinois: A interesting article from the Journal Gazett & Times-Courier details how Ben Thoma is one of the few in college baseball that has seen his numbers go up despite recent NCAA changes to metal bats. The statistics across the nation point to a decline in batting averages and home runs after the NCAA switched to bats that are made to resemble wooden bats. Thoma doesn't mind, his numbers are staying the same and even increasing in some areas. "When we recruited him, we knew he had a great swing. He is a wooden bat hitter," stated coach Jim Schmitz. Read the full article to understand the details involved and how Thoma continues to show off his great hitting mechanics.

Eastern Kentucky: Alex Raich and Stephanie Lynch will both be giving away the knowledge and experience gained during their time as student-athletes for EKU's soccer program when they go abroad this summer. Raich will travel to Guatemala to be involved in the program Soccer Without Borders, a non-profit organization that uses soccer as a tool to provide youth in underdeveloped parts of the world with role models. Lynch will take part in a 21-year-old ministry on the campus of North Eastern University in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Both student-athletes shared their excitement and thoughts about the upcoming adventures in the article at EKUSports.com.

Jacksonville State: In light of the recent stories we have mentioned about the JSU athletic director position, I thought maybe I would continue to keep you informed. The JSU website details the times and dates they will be holding meet and greet events for the five final candidates for the position. The position obviously means a lot to the school and they have some great candidates as President Dr. William A. Meehan stated, "We are extremely pleased with the quality and experience of our five finalists for the athletics director position." The meet and greet opportunities will correlate with the candidates on site interview process.

Morehead State: MSU baseball and softball didn't exactly have the seasons they were hoping for, but all is not lost. There are some bright spots to point out, and more so there are some things that inspire optimism for the future. Junior catcher Taylor Davis has been named to the Johny Bench Award Watch List, one of only 49 catchers in the nation, and softball earned the best batting average and most hits in the conference this season. Davis leads the OVC in home runs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and total bases. Rebecca Butler leaves the softball program with a total of eight school records, but returning will be Sam Woodall, who set the single season record for most at bats and scored fourth all-time in single season hits. Things are looking up next season for both programs with players like these returning.

Murray State: "Hey, stick around for awhile," that's what Murray State has told the leaders of their basketball programs. Both the men's and women's coaches have seen their contracts extended... Other campus news sees the many student-athletes receive honors at the Annual SAAC Banquet. Associate AD Matt Kelly honored 18 student-athletes who received a 4.0 GPA during the fall semester, and 6 of those achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA throughout their collegiate career. That is truly amazing if you ask me. Visit goracers.com to see the stories on the contract extensions of Billy Kennedy and Rob Cross, and of the Annual SAAC Banquet.

Southeast Missouri: SEMO has plenty to excited about with an impressive transfer coming in, and lots to be proud of as a student-athlete is named to the Academic All-District First Team. SEMO announced the addition of Jessica Crabtree to the women's soccer program. Crabtree will be a transfer from the University of Missouri, where she appeared in 60 games. Crabtree is quite the product as she is still fourth all-time in Illinois High School history with 142 goals scored. Michael Adamson is the player that was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America All-District Team. Adamson has started in every game for SEMO this season and leads the team with 49 runs scored, 11 stolen bases and 1.000 fielding percentage. He also carries a 3.78 GPA as an education major. Catch both stories at gosoutheast.com.

SIU Edwardsville: A fascinating story coming out of Edwardsville is the tale of Collen McDonough. McDonough is a redshirt sophomore from Orland Hills and leads all Cougar throwers in the hammer throw and shot put. The part of her story that is the most inspiring is the battle her and her father went through during the start of her collegiate career. As McDonough was contemplating which university to attend a few years back, her father, Brian, was diagnosed with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. During her father's battle with cancer, life was very difficult for Collen, who was now some 4 hours away from home. She communicated with the track and field coaches that at any time she may have to pack up and go home, and they were very supportive of her situation. The end result was an eventual bone marrow transplant for her father, who seems to be doing much better. The lessons that Collen learned during these hard times has no doubt shaped her for the better, and the story unfolds in more depth at siuecougars.com.

Tennessee State: Kim Haynes has been selected to participate in the 2011 NCAA Career in Sports Forum. Haynes was one of 303 student-athletes who were selected to participate in the 10 sport-specific coaching and administration tracks. "I think it will be a good opportunity for me to network and prepare myself for life after TSU," said Haynes... Elsewhere on TSU campus the SAAC received the 2011 Service Learning Award at the Community Partners Luncheon. The award is given to a student organization for implementing an outstanding community service program into their organization for at least two years. Read about these two accomplishments at tsutigers.com.

Tennessee Tech: TTUsports.com put it as, "the battle is over, the race is won, and the degree is in their hands." This refers to the 50 TTU student-athletes who graduated on Saturday. The size of the graduating class is growing every year in Cookeville, so the ceremony was held 9:30am for most and completed at 2pm for others. This is surely a good problem to have for administrators as nothing is more pleasing than to see student-athletes excel in the classroom as well as in the athletic realm. The website details a full list of graduates, but a few from the football team are pictured to the left. Job well done boys.

UT Martin: UTM continues the list of schools who are proud of their student-athletes academic achievements. Cody Terry, a senior shortstop, has been named to the Capital One Academic All-District first team. To be eligible for the award a student-athlete must have reached sophomore academic standing and at least a 3.30 GPA. Terry carries a 3.86 cumulative GPA, was named OVC Scholar Athlete, is a three-time member of the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll and was also an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American. So, it is fair to say that UT Martin are very proud of his achievements.