Aston Whiteside was voted the LSC South Division's Pre-Season Defensive Player of the Year.
Wildcats picked to defend title
7/30/2009 11:05:52 PM | Football
ADDISON, Texas (July 30) -- For the third straight season, the ACU Wildcats have been selected as the pre-season favorite to win the Lone Star Conference South Division football championship.
The pre-season polls in football, volleyball, men's and women's soccer and men's and women's cross country were revealed Thursday at the conference's annual Media Day.
ACU -- the defending LSC champion -- was selected to win the division championship, garnering 16 first-place votes and 135 total points. West Texas A&M was picked to finish second in the division with three first-place votes and 107 total points. The next three teams in the division were extremely close as Tarleton State was picked to finish third with 86 points, Texas A&M-Kingsville was picked to finish fourth with 84 points and Midwestern State was picked to finish fifth with one first-place vote and 82 points.
Angelo State was picked to finish a distant sixth (42 points) with Eastern New Mexico rounding out the pre-season poll, finishing seventh in the poll with 24 points.
Sophomore defensive end Aston Whiteside was selected as the division's Defensive Player of the Year, while Tarleton State senior running back Roderick Smith was picked as the Offensive Player of the Year.
Whiteside led the Wildcats in sacks (9.0) and tackles for loss (16.0) last season, and was selected as the division's Freshman of the Year and co-Defensive Lineman of the Year.
"I'm a little bit surprised to be picked first in the division considering the number of starters we lost," ACU head coach Chris Thomsen said. "Not only did we lose Bernard, but we also lost two other senior running backs (Chancy Campbell and Taber Minner). Not only did we lose Johnny Knox, we lost four other senior wide receivers. But we brought in some guys that we feel good about."
The Wildcats will open the season on Thursday, Aug. 27, when they host four-time defending NCAA Division II national runner-up Northwest Missouri State at Shotwell Stadium in a game that will be broadcast nationally on CBS College Sports.
ACU opened the 2008 season with a come-from-behind 44-27 win over the Bearcats in Maryville, Mo., snapping Northwest's 17-game home winning streak. The Bearcats, however, returned the favor on Nov. 29 in Abilene when they ended ACU's season with a 45-36 win in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division II playoffs.
Players will report on Wednesday, Aug. 5, with the first workout scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 6.
|
North Division |
1st |
TOTAL |
|
|
1 |
Central Oklahoma |
12 |
90 |
|
T2 |
Texas A&M-Commerce |
3 |
70 |
|
T2 |
Southeastern Oklahoma |
1 |
70 |
|
4 |
Southwestern Oklahoma |
|
39 |
|
5 |
East Central |
|
37 |
|
6 |
Northeastern State |
|
30 |
|
South Division |
1st |
TOTAL |
|
|
1 |
Abilene Christian |
16 |
135 |
|
2 |
West Texas A&M |
3 |
107 |
|
3 |
Tarleton State |
|
86 |
|
4 |
Texas A&M-Kingsville |
|
84 |
|
5 |
Midwestern State |
1 |
82 |
|
6 |
Angelo State |
|
42 |
|
7 |
Eastern New Mexico |
|
24 |
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