NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Southeast Missouri has been voted the favorite in the inaugural Big South-OVC Football Association Preseason Poll for the 2023 campaign by the league's head coaches. The poll was announced Tuesday as part of Media Day activities at the Sheraton Music City Hotel.
SEMO, the Ohio Valley Conference co-champion and FCS Playoff participant in 2022, received six of the 10 possible first-place votes and 96 points to claim the top spot in the first year of the Association.
Gardner-Webb, last season's Big South Champion, finished second in the balloting with 86 points and garnered four first-place votes. UT Martin, which shared the OVC title with the Redhawks a year ago, took third with 85 points and one first-place vote. All three teams have been ranked in at least one Top 25 Preseason Poll ahead of the 2023 campaign with SEMO ranking as high as ninth in two of those polls.
Tennessee Tech earned the final first-place nod and is fourth with 58 points. Tennessee State (57 pts.), Bryant (48 pts.), Lindenwood (45 pts.), Eastern Illinois (33 pts.), Charleston Southern (30 pts.) and Robert Morris (12 pts.) complete the 10-team poll.
The Redhawks are coming off a 2022 campaign which saw them finish 9-3 overall. SEMO went undefeated in the conference (5-0) for the first time in program history. The Redhawks return 14 starters, including six on offense and eight on defense this season.
A total of 10 SEMO players were named to the Association's Preseason Top 64 Players to Watch List, including running back
Geno Hess, wide receiver
Ryan Flournoy, quarterback
Paxton DeLaurent, offensive lineman
Zack Gieg, outside linebacker
Keandre Booker, inside linebacker
Bryce Norman, defensive lineman
Steven Lewis, defensive backs
Lawrence Johnson and
Ty Leonard, and return specialist
Dalyn McDonald.
Hess, the 2022 OVC Offensive Player and Male Athlete of the Year, is back for his sixth season in SEMO's backfield as the top rusher in program history. Hess, along with Gieg and Johnson, earned All-America honors this preseason.
The Redhawks kick off the season at reigning Big 12 Conference Champion Kansas State on Sept. 2. SEMO and KSU meet for the first time in 2023.
