Image by jimmywayne via Flickr

From the website OVCSports.com:

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. –  . . . Eastern Kentucky University has been picked as the 2009 Ohio Valley Conference preseason football favorite in a vote of league head coaches and sports information directors.   . . . The Colonels received 10 first-place votes to take home the preseason honor for the third time in the last five years.

Eastern Kentucky, who has won a record 20 OVC Championships, was picked first in the preseason poll for the 17th time since 1979. The Colonels were 7-1 in the OVC a year ago (losing only at Tennessee State) and are a combined 15-1 in the league over the past two seasons. Second-year head coach Dean Hood has seven offensive and five defensive starters back from last year’s team that lost to eventual national champion Richmond in the first round of the FCS Playoffs. Among those starters is preseason All-OVC and All-American selection Derek Hardman, a three-year starter for the program. He will be a key component on an offensive line that will block for senior running back C.J. Walker, the leading returning rusher in the OVC. Walker carried the ball 147 times for 706 yards (58.8 yards/game) and seven touchdowns a year ago. On defense, preseason All-OVC defensive end Chris Hall had 49 tackles, 13.0 tackles for loss and six sacks a season ago and will be a major force on the defensive line. Although the team lost two All-OVC performers in the secondary, sophomore Jeremy Caldwell returns to bolster that unit. Caldwell had three interceptions and 58 tackles as a freshman in 2008.

To read the entire article, click here.