Jens Deju
Daily Egyptian
Coming off a 1-10 season, it is no surprise that the SIU football team was picked to finish dead last in the Gateway Conference's preseason poll.
In fact, this is the 11th time in the last 13 years that the Salukis have been picked last.
The rankings, which are voted on by coaches, media and sports information directors, were released last Thursday at the conference's annual Media Day event in St. Louis.
While some of the SIU players said they were indifferent to the predictions, others believe they can use it as a motivational tool.
"As long as I've been here, we've always been picked toward the last, and it always lights a little fire under us to try to prove people wrong," said senior Walter Bucki. "When we go out to play games, people think they're going to roll all over us and we just got to start proving some people wrong, and hopefully we will."
Senior tight end Bilal Rashid is one of the players who could care less about where SIU is picked and said it won't add any extra motivation for him.
"People are going to rank you were they want. If they want to rank you last, that's their opinion," Rashid said. "We can't really focus on what other people feel we're going to do. We just have to concentrate on our goals."
Last year's Gateway champion Northern Iowa was chosen to take the league yet again this season. Following the Panthers were perennial powerhouses Youngstown State, Western Kentucky, Western Illinois, Southwest Missouri State, Illinois State and Indiana State.
The Salukis can take solace in the fact the preseason polls don't always turn out as planned. Last season, Northern Iowa was picked to finish fifth and instead went 11-3 and took the conference title.
"Sometimes [the predictions] can be right; sometimes they can be wrong. You never know," said freshman defensive back DeJuan Kea.
A bright spot for SIU head coach Jerry Kill and the Salukis was the naming of senior running back Tom Koutsos and sophomore safety Alexis Moreland to the preseason All-Gateway team. Senior tight end Ryan McAllister and cornerback Derrick Corker were named to the honorable mention team as well.
Koutsos, the SIU career rushing leader with 3,531 yards, ran for 1,222 yards and nine touchdowns last season and hauled in 11 passes for 96 yards. An All-Gateway pick the past two seasons, Koutsos has also been named to a couple of magazine's preseason All-American teams.
Moreland started seven games for the Salukis last season and was second on the team in tackles with 76. He joined Western Kentucky's Buster Ashley as the only two sophomores on the All-Gateway team.
Bucki said being named to the All-Gateway team is an honor for both Koutsos and Moreland, and he hopes they take them as a sign to assume added leadership roles on the team.
"Tom was pretty much a shoo-in," Bucki said. "As far as Alexis, he had a great freshman season. I hope he continues his sophomore season and just leads the secondary with those honors."
After missing the final eight games of last season due to a knee injury, McAllister was granted a fifth year of eligibility. In his three games played prior to the injury, McAllister hauled in five catches for 77 yards. Corker was second on the team with three interceptions to go with his 31 tackles for the Salukis last season.
As a whole, the Salukis know they have their work cut out for them, and they would like nothing more to than to show that last season's record was a fluke.
"We know what we have to do," said junior running back Brandon Robinson. "We know what we have to prove and we don't want to be like we were last year, so there will be a lot of changes this year."
Reporter Jens Deju can be reached at jdeju@dailyegyptian.com
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
