BRIDGEPORT - After finishing Division II national runner-up two seasons ago and making the national semifinals last season, Shepherd was again the choice of Mountain East Conference coaches as conference champion.
The Rams received eight of the conference's 11 first-place votes in the preseason poll, released at the start of MEC media day Tuesday at the Bridgeport Conference Center. After earning a place in the national polls before coming up short of a playoff bid last season, Notre Dame College received two first-place votes and finished just ahead of No. 3 Fairmont State. The Falcons picked up one first-place vote after earning their first playoff appearance in school history.
The Rams will try to replace two of their best offensive players in school history. Quarterback Jeff Ziemba and wide receiver Billy Brown, who is now with the Philadelphia Eagles, have left the program. But Shepherd coach Monte Cater enters his 31st season at the helm knowing his team has plenty of talent ready to fill in.
"That senior class [last year] was the most successful we've ever had ... and it was tough to look out there in the spring and see that those guys were not there," Cater said. "But if anybody thinks that the cupboard is completely bare, I can guarantee you that it is not."
Coming off last year's 3-8 season, Charleston came in at fifth in the poll, while first-year coach John Pennington's West Virginia State team was picked to finish 10th.
After being picked to finish last in the MEC last season, UVa-Wise won six games in 2016 and shot up to fourth in this year's poll - a rise that surprised even Cavaliers coach Dane Damron.
"I think these coaches need their sanity checked for picking us fourth," Damron joked on Tuesday. "There's no doubt that this league is good from top to bottom, there's a lot of parity in the middle. But I think we all know who we're chasing, and that's a credit to Coach Cater and what he's done with his program."
The Concord football family mourned the loss of defensive coordinator Pat Dawson, who passed away in his sleep on July 15. The assistant coach had served on the Mountain Lions' coaching staff for the last six seasons. Concord coach Paul Price said Dawson was the ultimate players' coach and that the news hit the team hard, but he believes his team is going to go into the 2017 campaign looking to celebrate his life and honor him the right way.
"You never know when it's going to happen or where but there are days when you're walking around and you just see something that reminds you of Pat, and it brings a tear to your eye," Price said. "He was so endeared by all the players and I'm sure it's going to be a tough few weeks in the beginning for our guys because they all loved him.
"The battle cry is to 'rise up,' because that's what you have to do in order to move past this. You have to rise above it, and that's what we're doing."
Coming off a playoff appearance in 2015, the University of Charleston entered last season with high hopes, only to see them come crashing down. But as the Golden Eagles got healthier in the off-season and bring back several talented players, coach Pat Kirkland doesn't think he's going to have any trouble getting his team motivated to turn things around in 2017.
"We spent a lot of time in the off-season getting back to the things we did in the past when we had our success, and that's about playing with effort and discipline and playing with a hard edge," Kirkland said. "Last year we lost sight of that a little bit. ... This is a good group with a lot of ability."
For the last few years, West Virginia State's passing offense has gotten the majority of the headlines as one of the MEC's best. But the Yellow Jackets hope they can add a wrinkle this season with a talented duo of returning running backs. Dionta Brown and Juawan Etheredge join quarterback Matt Kinnick in the backfield.
Brown had more than 1,000 all-purpose yards in 2016 while Etheredge was eighth in the league with 600 rushing yards. With another year of getting to play together, Brown thinks they can take a big step up to become one of the MEC's toughest running back duos.
"I'm the speed guy and he's the power back. We're a good one-two punch," Brown said. "We have more experience, which is huge. We talk a lot and have gotten to build a great bond and that's important."
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.