Charleston Southern picked fourth; six Bucs make preseason all-conference team at Big South football media day

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Liberty University has been tabbed as the favorite in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason football poll for the 2007 campaign, as voted by the League’s head coaches, sports information directors and media panel, it was announced today at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Concord, N.C. as part of the 2007 Big South Conference Football Kickoff Media Luncheon. It is the first time that the Flames have been tabbed the Conference’s preseason football favorite since the Big South began sponsoring the sport in 2002.

Liberty, fresh off a nationally-recognized turnaround in 2006, has already caught the attention of national media outlets. Lindy’s College Football Preview ranks the Flames at No. 25 in the country and also predicts Liberty will win its first Big South Conference football crown this season as well. The Flames also received Top 25 votes in the preseason AnyGivenSaturday.com and CollegeSportingNews.com polls. Liberty, which went 6-5 last year and posted a five-win improvement over 2005, returns 39 letterwinners and 20 starters in 2007. Danny Rocco’s squad received 12 first-place votes and 87 total points to supplant three-time Big South champion Coastal Carolina from the top spot. David Bennett’s Chanticleers, coming off their third-straight League title and the Conference’s and school’s first-ever berth in the FCS playoffs, finished second in this year’s preseason poll with seven first-place votes and 79 points.

For the third consecutive year, Steve Patton’s Gardner-Webb Bulldogs are predicted to finish third. Gardner-Webb, which received one first-place vote and 63 points, returns the most letterwinners in the Conference with 54 and the most starters (21) in 2007. Jay Mills’ Charleston Southern squad, which posted its best record in school history last year at 9-2, was voted fourth in the poll with 43 points. The Bucs tied for second in the League last year at 2-2. VMI, under the direction of second-year head coach Jim Reid, rounded out the voting with 28 points. The Keydets dropped its four Big South games last year by a combined 19 points.

The 2007 Big South Conference season begins in earnest on Saturday, Oct. 20 with Gardner-Webb at VMI and Liberty at Charleston Southern. The regular-season concludes Saturday, Nov. 17 with two League games that could decide the 2007 champion -- Coastal Carolina at Charleston Southern and Liberty at Gardner-Webb.

Four Buccaneer defenders, headlined by 2005 Big South defensive player of the year Jada Ross, take their rightful spots along offensive lineman Rick Howell and placekicker Nick Ellis on the Big South preseason all-conference squad. Ross was the runner-up to Gardner-Webb's Brian Johnston for 2007 preseason defensive player of the year.

2007 Big South Football Preseason All-Conference Team

OFFENSE
QB - Brock Smith, Liberty, Jr. (Hershey, Pa.)
RB - Rashad Jennings, Liberty, Jr. (Forest, Va.)
RB - Zach Terrell, Liberty, Jr. (Manasses Park, Va.)
WR - Jerome Simpson, Coastal Carolina, Sr. (Reidsville, N.C.)
WR - Duvaughn Flagler, Gardner-Webb, Sr. (Norcross, Ga.)
WR - Brandon Turner, Liberty, Sr. (Gretna, Va.)
TE - Chris Luck, Liberty, Sr. (Montvale, Va.)
OL - Stephen Sene, Liberty, R-Sr. (Columbia, S.C.)
OL - Demario Deese, Gardner-Webb, Jr. (Charlotte, N.C.)
OL - Rick Howell, Charleston Southern, Sr. (Satellite Beach, Fla.)
OL - Robert Brown, VMI, Sr. (Mesquite, Texas)
OL - Eddie Pinigis, Liberty, R-Sr. (Forest, Va.)

DEFENSE
DL - Brian Johnston, Gardner-Webb, Sr. (San Diego, Calif.)
DL - Dennis Justiniani, Charleston Southern, Sr. (Huntington Beach, Calif.)
DL - Adrain Grady, Coastal Carolina, R-Sr. (Leland, N.C.)
DL - Steven Ackley, Liberty, R-Sr. (Columbia, Tenn.)
LB - Mario E. Brown, Gardner-Webb, Jr. (Greenville, S.C.)
LB - Jada Ross, Charleston Southern, Sr. (Summerville, S.C.)
LB - Stevie Ray Lloyd, Liberty, R-Sr. (Lynchburg, Va.)
LB - Mike Pavelko, Gardner-Webb, Jr. (Eden Prairie, Minn.)
DB - C.J. Hirschman, Charleston Southern, Sr. (Jacksonville, Fla.)
DB - Daniel Cooke, Gardner-Webb, Jr. (Charlotte, N.C.)
DB - Ryan Greiser, Liberty, Jr. (Quakertown, Pa.)
DB - Okeba Rollinson, Charleston Southern, R-Jr. (Gastonia, N.C.)

SPECIAL TEAMS
PK - Nick Ellis, Charleston Southern, Sr. (Stockbridge, Ga.)
P - Michael Hanna, Gardner-Webb, Jr. (Lawrenceville, Ga.)
LS - David McCarthy, Gardner-Webb, Jr. (Irmo, S.C.)
RS - Wynton Jackson, Liberty, R-Sr. (Jacksonville, Fla.)

PRESEASON OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jerome Simpson, WR, Sr., Coastal Carolina

PRESEASON DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Brian Johnston, DE, Sr., Gardner-Webb

2007 Preseason Poll 1 2 3 4 5 Points
1. Liberty (12).......60 20 3 4 - 87
2. Coastal (7)........35 28 15 - 1 79
3. Gardner-Webb (1)... 5 28 21 8 1 63
4. Charleston Southern - 4 18 16 5 43
5. VMI................ - - 3 12 13 28