UIndy Unanimously Picked to Win 2019 GLVC Football Championship
2019 GLVC Preseason Poll Points (1sT)
1. Indianapolis # 49 (7)
2. Lindenwood 38
3. Truman State 37 (1)
4. Missouri S&T 31
5. McKendree 29
6. Quincy 18
7. Southwest Baptist 13
8. William Jewell 9
# Unanimous Selection
INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) football coaches have unanimously picked the University of Indianapolis to win the GLVC Championship this fall, it was announced Friday at the eighth annual GLVC Football Kickoff in Lebanon, Illinois.
Under the direction of first-year head coach Chris Keevers, the six-time and defending GLVC Champion Greyhounds earned 49 points in the poll and all seven first-place votes, given Conference bylaws state a coach cannot for his own team. Since the GLVC began sponsoring football in 2012, UIndy has compiled a 49-4 record in GLVC play and garnered NCAA DII playoff bids in five of the last six seasons. The Greyhounds are coming off a 10-2 (7-0 GLVC) campaign, in which they advanced to the second round of the NCAA DII Playoffs and finished ranked No. 11 in the AFCA DII Coaches Poll – the program’s highest-ever position in the season’s final poll. Twelve starters return for UIndy, including the reigning GLVC Offensive Player of the Year, junior running back Al McKeller, as well as 2018 GLVC Freshman of the Year, running back Toriano Clinton.
Newcomer Lindenwood University has been picked to finish second overall, as the Lions garnered 38 points in the poll. Led on the sidelines by third-year head coach Jed Stugart, Lindenwood comes to the GLVC after competing seven seasons as members of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) from 2012-18. Sixteen starters return for the Lions from a team that went 4-7 to finish 10th in the MIAA, including first-team All-American Erik Henneman, a senior tight end who hauled in 57 receptions for 639 yards and nine touchdowns last year.
Truman State University fell one vote shy of second place and enters the 2019 campaign as the coaches’ third pick. The Bulldogs garnered UIndy’s first-place vote in the poll and bring back 16 starters from a team that placed third overall with a 5-2 record in GLVC action and 6-5 mark overall. Gregg Nesbitt enters his 10th season on the sidelines and welcomes back a number of All-Conference honorees, including first-teamers in senior defensive end Sam Reeves, senior cornerback Jordan Siegel, and junior cornerback Lawrence Woods – the 2019 GLVC Special Teams Player of the Year.
Slotted fourth in the poll with 31 points is Missouri S&T, which will be under the watch of first-year head coach Todd Drury, who served as the Miners’ defensive cooridnator for the past three years. S&T placed second in the GLVC standings last year with a 6-1 mark, and strung together six straight wins to finish 10-2 overall. The Miners capped the 2018 campaign with a resounding 51-16 victory over Minnesota State Moorhead in the Mineral Water Bowl.
With 29 points, McKendree University has been picked to place fifth, just one year removed from a fourth-place result at 4-3, with a 6-5 record overall. Mike Babcock returns for his seventh season at the helm of the Bearcats.
Quincy University picked up 18 points in the poll to sit sixth. In his second year on the sidelines, Gary Bass led the Hawks to a 4-7 record overall and a 3-4 mark in GLVC action to finish fifth in the league.
Rounding out the poll is No. 7 Southwest Baptist University (0-10, 0-7) and No. 8 William Jewell College (1-9, 1-6). Robert Clardy is back for his fifth season at SBU – a tenure highlighted by earning a share of the 2016 GLVC Championship. Jewell opens the 2019 season under the direction of interim head coach Chuck Lliteras, who took over for Shawn Weigel at the end of the 2018 campaign.
The 2019 season begins on Thursday, September 5, with Indianapolis traveling to Ashland for a 7 p.m. kick. The remaining seven teams will open their respective seasons two days later on Saturday, September 7, which includes William Jewell hosting Southwest Baptist in GLVC action. Lindenwood opens at Eastern Washington, McKendree travels to Northern Michigan, Missouri S&T is at Eastern New Mexico, Quincy heads to Central State, and Truman State visits Drake.