COLLEGE FOOTBALL
ASU second in coaches' preseason poll
Sun Belt Conference coaches picked Arkansas State second behind Louisiana-Lafayette in their preseason football poll that was released Saturday.
Louisiana-Lafayette received 121 points and all 11 first-place votes, while ASU received 102 votes. The teams shared the conference championship last season.
The Red Wolves finished 8-5 overall and 5-2 in league play last season, where they earned at least a share of the conference title for the third consecutive season.
South Alabama (98) was picked third and followed by Troy (84), Louisiana-Monroe (78), Texas State (70), Appalachian State (47), Georgia Southern (44), Idaho (29), Georgia State (27) and New Mexico State (26).
ASU returns 10 starters, including seven All-Sun Belt players, from last year's team that defeated Ball State 23-20 in the GoDaddy Bowl.
UAPB QB league's preseason offensive player
Arkansas-Pine Bluff has been picked third in the Southwestern Athletic Conference West Division by the league coaches, sports information directors and media and Golden Lions quarterback Ben Anderson is their preseason offensive player of the year for a second time.
Defending league champion Southern (95 points) was picked to win the West Division title. It was followed by Prairie View A&M (88), UAPB (66), Texas Southern (50) and Grambling (31).
Alabama State (93) was picked for the third consecutive year to win the East Division. It was followed by Alcorn State (91), Jackson State (72), Mississippi Valley State (40) and Alabama A&M (34).
Anderson finished second in the league with 2,787 yards and threw 19 touchdown passes last season after leading Pine Bluff to its first outright SWAC title in 2012.
Alabama State linebacker Kourtney Berry was name the preseason defensive player of the year. He had 105 tackles, 7 sacks , 1 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries as a redshirt freshman last season.
Sports on 07/20/2014