RICHMOND, Ky. - In a pre-season poll of the Ohio Valley Conference head football coaches and sports information directors, coach Roy Kidd's Eastern Kentucky University Colonel football team has been picked to finish third in the 1999 OVC football race.
Last year's OVC champion, Tennessee State, was picked to repeat its championship in 1999 by 12 of the 16 people polled and received 95 points. Murray State was second with 77 points, followed by EKU with 71; Eastern Illinois, 66; Western Kentucky, 56; Tennessee Tech, 42; Southeast Missouri, 26; and UT Martin, 15.
"I'll have to say that I was disappointed in where we were picked, but when you look at some of the key players we lost from last year's team, it's probably a pretty good placing of our team going into the year," said Kidd, who begins his 36th season at the helm of the Eastern football program this year.
Three Colonels were chosen to the '99 pre-season All-OVC first team, including junior runningback Corey Crume of Lebanon; senior defensive tackle Jason Muchow of Merritt Island, FL; and senior safety Shawn Gallant of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Eastern also had three other players who received honorable mention All-OVC notice. These Colonels include senior tailback Derick Logan of Chatham, VA; senior offensive guard Josh Hunter of Myakka City, FL; and senior defensive tackle Terry Thomas of Flint, MI.
EKU begins two-a-day practices next Wednesday, Aug. 11, in preparation for the 7:00 p.m. Sept. 2 season's opener at Roy Kidd Stadium against Kentucky State University.
Orders for tickets to EKU's five-game home schedule are now being accepted at the EKU Athletics Ticket Office in Room 126 of Alumni Coliseum from 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. weekdays. Tickets may also be purchased by phoning the ticket office at (606) 622-2122 or 1-800-262-7493 (inside Kentucky).