Lenoir-Rhyne picked to defend SAC title; Wingate, Mars Hill also ranked in top four

Courtesy South Atlantic Conference | TheSAC.com

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – Lenoir-Rhyne has been voted as the conference favorite by the South Atlantic Conference football head coaches, the league announced today.  The Bears collected six first-place votes and 104 points in the poll.

After winning the SAC Championship and advancing to the National Semifinal, the Bears look to continue that success under first-year head coach Doug Socha. LR is no stranger to success in recent years, winning eight league championships since 2011.

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The Bears return seven preseason All-SAC selections with a pair of wide receivers in Songa Yates and DeAree Rogers. Rogers also earned the division’s return specialist accolade. TE John Godwin rounds out the offensive selections with pro prospect DL Andre Jefferson and DB James Ussery earning nods on defense. LS Carson Keaton concluded LR’s selections.

At No. 2 in the poll was Wingate with 94 points and three first place votes.  The Bulldogs are coming off an 8-3 season overall, going 6-2 in conference play. The Bulldog defense ranked No. 6 in the nation, giving up just 14 points per game and they were No. 3 in points allowed (12.6) in 2022.

New head coach Rashaan Jordan had been the Defensive Coordinator for 18 years. He has the returning Defensive Player of the Year in Marquise Fleming who had 22.5 tackles for loss and 13 sacks a season ago. Fleming is joined by DL Daniel Morrison and Bryan Bordeaux along with LB Dontorian Best to give Wingate four returning All-Conference selections.

Limestone checks in at No. 3 in the 2024 preseason poll with 92 points.  The Saints have advanced to the NCAA Playoffs each of the past two years and will be under new head coach Jerricho Cotchery who was the WR coach last year. For the second straight season, Dustin Noller led the league in passing yards and totaled 3,009 yards and also led the SAC with 31 touchdown passes against just five interceptions. Noller is joined by Charles Couch on the Preseason All-Piedmont offense while LB Ty Cade and DB Jeremiah Lomax represent the Saints on the defensive side.  

Mars Hill comes in at No. 4 in the preseason poll with 87 points and two first place votes. The Lions earned a share of the Mountain Division title last year with a 6-2 mark in league play and went 8-2 overall. Tim Clifton enters his 31^st season with the Lions and trails only Ken Sparks on the all-time wins list by a head coach in SAC history. Mars Hill put up nearly 27 points per game last year led by All-Mountain Division QB JR Martin who threw for 1,928 yards and 16 touchdowns. Martin is joined in the backfield by RB Jon Gullette who ran for 869 yards and four touchdowns. WR Malik Laurent and TE Beau DeBerry give Mars Hill four Preseason All-Mountain offensive selections while DL Boris Lewis, LB Dexter Fitzpatrick and DB Tristan Rankin were named to the All-Defensive squad.

Newberry landed at No. 5 in the preseason poll with 73 points.  The 2022 SAC Champions lost a handful of stars going into last year and dropped to 4-7. However, three-time SAC Coach of the Year Todd Knight has won the league three times since taking over in 2009. Damari Joyner earned All-Piedmont preseason honors on the O-Line and he paved the way for RB Dwayne Wright who ran for 902 yards and eight touchdowns last year.    

At No. 6 in the poll was Tusculum with 60 points.  The Pioneers shared the Mountain Division crown in 2023 and advanced to the SAC Championship game where they fell short to a talented Lenoir-Rhyne squad. Defensively, Earnest Johnson III and Jermaine Witherspoon represent the Pioneers on the Preseason All-Mountain defense while RB Jalen Hunt and OL Garrett Priest are on the All-Mountain offensive squad.

Coming in at No. 7 in the poll was Catawba with 51 points. The youthful Indians had a strong year under first-year head coach Tyler Haines and are primed to grow more as a group that featured mostly freshmen and sophomores from last year. WR Bo Pryor was one of the few upperclassmen and exploded for 885 yards and seven touchdowns. LB Evan Simons, DB Jakarri Martin II and DB Deno Wardlow earned spots on the All-Piedmont defense for Catawba.

Checking in at No. 8 in the poll is Carson-Newman with 49 points. New HC Ashley Ingram takes over a program that nearly has more postseason appearances (27) than the rest of the SAC combined (31). However, the Eagles haven’t gone on to postseason play since 2019 where they lost in the Second Round after beating Bowie St. The Eagles have eight players on the All-Mountain team, three on offense, four on defense and one special teamer. C-N was 5-6 a year ago and 4-4 in league play.

The Barton Bulldogs earned the No. 9 spot with 47 points. The Bulldogs must replace an offensive trio that rivaled any group in the league as RB Jordan Terrell (1,732 yds, 11 TD), WR Kameron Johnson (879 yds, 7 TD) and QB Jaquan Lynch (1,607 yards passing, 25 total TD) will not return but others will be ready to fill those spots. LB Matt Smith leads the way for the returners as his 98 total tackles in 2023 placed him sixth in the league.

Earning the No. 10 spot in the poll was Emory & Henry with 33 points. The Wasps went 5-6 overall last season, finishing with a 3-5 record in SAC play. Emory & Henry does feature 10 Preseason All-Mountain selections including a pair of WR in Cam Peoples and Cam Abshire along with OL Noah Sage and Deshaun Sharp.

Rounding out the poll at No. 11 was UVA Wise and Anderson at No. 12.  This will be the inaugural year for the Trojans under head coach Bobby Lamb.

The full preseason all-conference Mountain Division and Piedmont Division teams are listed below. 

The 2024 SAC football season will kick-off on Thursday, August 29, with two teams taking the field, with two more playing on Saturday, August 31. The rest of the league will kick off the following week. Check out the full schedule of games online at www.thesac.com. 

Be sure to catch all of the SAC football action online with live video streaming via the FloSports Network! Fans can sign-up for FloSports by visiting https://flosports.link/3IwzCJ6. 

2024 SAC Football Preseason Coaches’ Poll 

2024 Preseason All-SAC Football Teams

ALL- MOUNTAIN OFFENSE

QB –      JR Martin, Mars Hill
RB –       Jon Gullette, Mars Hill
RB –       Jalen Hunt, Tusculum
RB –       Jayden Sullins, Carson-Newman
WR –     Malik Laurent, Mars Hill
WR –     Cam Abshire, Emory & Henry
WR –     Cam Peoples, Emory & Henry
OL –       Fletcher Gibson, Carson-Newman
OL –       Garrett Priest, Tusculum           
OL –       Noah Sage, Emory & Henry
OL –       Christian Jones, Carson-Newman
OL –       Deshaun Sharp, Emory & Henry
TE –       Beau DeBerry, Mars Hill
PK –       Trace Butcher, Emory & Henry
LS –       Andrew Bradshaw, Carson-Newman
RS –       Cam Peoples, Emory & Henry

ALL- MOUNTAIN DEFENSE

DL –       Boris Lewis, Mars Hill
DL –       Jacorey Long, Carson-Newman
DL –       Andre Crawley, Jr., Emory & Henry
DL –       Ean Rhea, Emory & Henry
LB –       Kaleb Lundy, Emory & Henry
LB –       Dexter Fitzpatrick, Mars Hill
LB –       Mekhi Brown, Carson-Newman
LB –       Earnest Johnson III, Tusculum
DB –      Major Williams, Carson-Newman
DB –      Addison Knicely, Emory & Henry
DB –      Tristan Rankin, Mars Hill
DB –      Jermaine Witherspoon, Tusculum
DB –      Kendall Williams, Carson-Newman

ALL- PIEDMONT OFFENSE

QB –      Dustin Noller, Limestone
RB –       Dwayne Wright, Newberry
RB –       Marquece Williams, Catawba
WR –     Bo Pryor, Catawba
WR –     DeAree Rogers, Lenoir-Rhyne
WR –     Songa Yates, Lenoir-Rhyne
OL –       Porfirio Acosta, Wingate
OL –       Charles Couch, Limestone
OL –       Damari Joyner, Newberry
OL –       Erwil Anthony, Wingate
OL –       Blake Martin, Wingate
TE –       John Godwin, Lenoir-Rhyne
PK –       Caleb Bonesteel, Wingate
LS –       Carson Keaton, Lenoir-Rhyne
RS –       DeAree Rogers, Lenoir-Rhyne

ALL-PIEDMONT DEFENSE

DL –       Daniel Morrison, Wingate
DL –       Marquise Fleming, Wingate
DL –       Andre Jefferson, Lenoir-Rhyne
DL –       Bryan Bordeaux, Wingate
LB –       Dontorian Best, Wingate           
LB –       Evan Simons, Catawba
LB –       Ty Cade, Limestone
LB –       Matt Smith, Barton
DB –      Jakarri Martin II, Catawba
DB –      Jeremiah Lomax, Limestone
DB –      Deno Wardlow, Catawba
DB –      James Ussery, Lenoir-Rhyne
P –          Bryan Frey, Limestone