The USA South Athletic Conference released its preseason coaches poll Tuesday, and two North Carolina schools tied for fourth place on the list.
Brevard and Methodist share the No. 4 spot in the rankings for the Division III conference. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own schools.
Huntingdon topped the USA South poll with 61 points and six of nine first-place votes. Belhaven finished second with 55 points and three first-place tallies, followed by Maryville 52, Brevard and Methodist 40 each, NC Wesleyan 31, LaGrange 17, Southern Virginia 15 and Greensboro 13.
Coach Bill Khayat returns for his seventh season leading the Brevard program. His past four teams have finished at or above .500, including last year’s group which went 5-5 overall, 5-2 in the USA South.
The Tornados kick off their season Saturday, Sept. 2 at home against NAIA Warner from Florida.
Methodist also posted a 5-5 mark a year ago, 4-3 against conference foes. The Monarchs feature one of the top quarterbacks in the conference in Brandon Bullins. The senior from Kernersville has 8,859 career passing yards, with 68 touchdowns.
Methodist’s three conference losses came by a total of 12 points a year ago, including a narrow defeat against Brevard. Head coach Kevin Williams said in a recent Methodist Athletics podcast that his team has been focusing shoring up the details in the lead-up to the season.
“We’ve got to get back to basics, do the details right, and I think we’re going to have an amazing season,” Williams said.
Methodist opens its season against Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia on Sept. 2 before hosting Guilford College in Monarch Stadium on Sept. 9 at 6 p.m.
NC Wesleyan finished with a 3-7 overall record, 3-4 against league foes. The Battling Bishops ended last season on a positive note with a 35-14 win over Greensboro. Wesleyan will host Randolph-Macon in the season opener on Sept. 2.
Greensboro won just one game a year ago, beating Southern Virginia 38-28 at home.
But coach Tyler Card believes his team is on a positive trajectory. He came out of spring ball excited about the upcoming campaign, which begins against rival Guilford in the annual Gate City Soup Bowl on Saturday, Sept. 2 at 7 p.m.
“The program has several returners on both sides of the ball and upfront we are going to be bigger, older and more experienced since I’ve been here,” Card said in a release. “This upcoming season we bring back a lot of skill guys that can fly and stretch the field, and defensively we will be loaded with juniors and a couple of seniors. The coaches and players have been working on coming together as a team and a family this spring and summer, and I can’t wait to see how these men perform on the field together.”
USA South Preseason Coaches Poll
| Rank | Institution (1st Place Votes) | Points |
| 1. | Huntingdon* (6) | 61 |
| 2. | Belhaven (3) | 55 |
| 3. | Maryville | 52 |
| t-4. | Brevard | 40 |
| t-4. | Methodist | 40 |
| 6. | N.C. Wesleyan | 31 |
| 7. | LaGrange | 17 |
| 8. | Southern Virginia | 15 |
| 9. | Greensboro | 13 |
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