SUWANEE, Ga. – For the third consecutive
year Millsaps College was tabbed as the preseason
favorite to win the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
championship. In the annual preseason vote by the league’s
head coaches, Millsaps garnered four of seven first place votes and
received 44 points to headline the poll.
Millsaps will have a different look in 2009 as
the Majors lost 20 seniors, 12 of which were starters last
season. Millsaps returns five starters on offense including 2008
SCAC Co-Newcomer-of-the-Year running back Shane Bowser. The biggest
loss for the Majors is trying to replace three-time SCAC Offensive
Player of the Year and All-American quarterback Juan Joseph, who
sported a 26-7 overall record as a starter in three seasons.
Defensively, the Majors return senior linebackers Lee Klein, Sam
Herman, Jaren Bowser and Miles Sager. Returning up front are
seniors David Dale, Mason Burrell and Kyle Hughes who combined for
64 tackles and 3.5 sacks a year ago.
Millsaps also returns special team standouts in kicker Taylor
Russolino (named to Fred Mitchell Award watch list), senior punter
Will Lawrimore (school record 77-yard punt against Belhaven), and
SCAC Special Teams Player of the Year in Michael Galatas (averaged
23.6 yards per kick return).
Millsaps (D3football.com Preseason #26) will look to make its
fourth ever appearance in the NCAA playoffs. However,
Trinity University and DePauw
University should figure into the equation. The three
teams were seperated by a mere five points for the top three
spots.
Trinity (USA Today Division III Preseason #20)
was narrowly picked as the preseason number two team with 41 points
and two first-place votes. The Tigers, who are aiming to win their
15th SCAC championship in the past 17 years, return the senior
runningback tandem of Chris Baer (All-SCAC First Team) and Al
Furlow (Honorable Mention All-SCAC). Baer rushed for 840 yards in
nine games while Furlow averaged 5.9 yards per carry (486 on 83
carries).
DePauw (USA Today Division III preseason #19)
rounded out the top three with 39 points and one first-place vote.
The Tigers finished 8-2 (5-2 SCAC) last season and return 17
starters and 41 letterwinners including senior quarterback Spud
Dick. Dick is eighth all-time in SCAC history with 6,527 passing
yards and needs 2,768 yards to tie Juan Joseph’s career mark.
Interim head coach Robby Long takes over after Matt Walker resigned
prior to preseason camp.
Rounding out the 2009 predicted order of finish: Centre
College was tabbed fourth with 27 points and
Austin College picked up 19 points to come in
fifth. Rhodes College followed with 14 points and
Sewanee-University of the South finished in
seventh with 12 points. Birmingham-Southern
College, a Division III provisional member, was not
considered in the pre-season conference poll.
On the defenseive side of the ball, Centre
returns three of four starters from its secondary. Led by second
team All-SCAC selections Zach Sloan and Sean Swallen, the Colonel
secondary helped pave the way for a defense that was No. 2 in the
league in total defense and No. 3 against the pass. Sloan enters
the season tied for second all-time in school history with 14
career interceptions, while Swallen was third on the team in total
tackles with 77.
For the third straight season Austin College
led the SCAC in rushing offense as the ‘Roos averaged 216.7
yards per game during the 2008 campaign. Returning to again lead
the ground attack is senior running back Ross Hasten, a 1st Team
All-SCAC selection a year ago. Hasten rushed for 826 yards and 6.3
yards per attempt and scored six touchdowns last year. He also led
the SCAC in all-purpose yards. The ‘Roos also return First
Team All-SCAC senior cornerback Matt Finke, who tallied 41 tackles
while recovering three fumbles and intercepting two passes.
The toughest challenge for Rhodes will be
replacing arguably two of the best defensive players in the SCAC as
the Lynx graduated back-to-back SCAC Defensive-Player-of-the-Year
winners in Desmond Hendricks and Mason Mosby. Junior linebacker
Andrew Meier, who started four games in ’08 at linebacker
before an injury sidelined him for the remainder of the season,
looks to rebound in 2009. In four games Meier averaged 9.3 tackles
per game. Senior running back Josh McMurray returns and was a main
stay in the backfield for the Lynx in 2008, rushing for 553 yards
while averaging a team best 5.7 yards per carry.
Sewanee returns nine defensive starters including
preseason All-American defensive back Chalankis Brown. Brown
recorded 57 tackles last year to go along with his seven
interceptions and three blocked kicks. Sophomore linebacker Alfonza
Knight returns after tallying a team leading 59 tackles a season
ago. The offense welcomes back eight starters including two-year
starter Patrick Shelton at quarterback. Shelton was second team
All-SCAC last year and led the team with 1,418 yards of total
offense. The Tigers look to improve upon last season’s 1-6
conference mark in 2009.
Birmingham-Southern enters the 2009 season with a
number of key returners at the skill positions including junior
quarterback Joe Thigpen, junior tailback Walter Arrington, and wide
receivers Tay Walker, a senior, and David Langston, a junior.
Arrington was voted First-Team All-Conference last season after
leading the Panthers with 599 rushing yards and seven touchdowns,
averaging 4.4 yards per carry. Thigpen was voted Second-Team
All-Conference, leading the offense with 1,079 passing yards while
completeing 77-of-133 with five interceptions and eight
touchdowns.
Schedule highlights include the season opening “Backyard
Brawl” as Millsaps travels to Mississippi College on Sept. 5.
The Majors opened last season with a 42-6 win over the visiting and
25th ranked Choctaws. The 2009 game will mark the ninth meeting
between the schools since the rivalry was renewed in 2000 after a
40 year hiatus.
Sewanee travels to Rhodes on Nov. 14 in the annual Orgill Trophy
game. The game marks the 56th meeting for the
Orgill Trophy as the series is tied 27-27-1. Overall, Sewanee
leads the series 41-33-3 which dates back to 1899.
Highlighting the end of the season is the annual meeting between
DePauw and Wabash (116th meeting) Nov. 14 for the Monon Bell. The
game will be nationally televised for the fourth consecutive year
on the high definition network HDNet. DePauw won last year’s
meeting as the Tigers beat the No. 2 ranked Little Giants on the
road 36-14. The win evened the all-time series at 53-53-9 while
DePauw holds a 37-34-6 lead in games played for the Monon Bell.
For the complete 2009 SCAC Football Prospectus, click here.
| 2009 SCAC Predicted Order of Finish | ||||
| 2008 Record Conf. / Overall | ||||
| No. of votes | ||||
| 1 | Millsaps College Majors | 44 (4) | 7-0 | 11-1 |
| 2 | Trinity University Tigers | 41 (2) | 5-2 | 8-2 |
| 3 | DePauw University Tigers | 39 (1) | 5-2 | 8-2 |
| 4 | Centre College Colonels | 27 | 5-2 | 7-3 |
| 5 | Austin College Kangaroos | 19 | 3-4 | 5-5 |
| 6 | Rhodes College Lynx | 14 | 2-5 | 4-6 |
| 7 | Sewanee-University of the South Tigers | 12 | 1-6 | 2-8 |
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