Fort Lewis College’s new head football coach Johnny Cox has a lot of work to do to get the Skyhawks some respect on the gridiron.
After the Skyhawks struggled to an 0-11 record last year, the RMAC’s head coaches picked the Skyhawks to finish last in the league again this year in its head coaches preseason football poll, which was released Monday.
Colorado School of Mines received nine of 10 first-place votes while accumulating 81 points. The Orediggers made a postseason run to the semifinal round of the NCAA playoffs last year. John Matocha and 2021 Harlon Hill finalist Michael Zeman return for the Mines offense. The tandem is just two of several weapons for an Orediggers attack that averaged 38.6 points per game last season. The defense has also reloaded under former defensive coordinator and first-year head coach Brandon Moore.
Colorado State University Pueblo earned 70 points and the final first-place vote to come in second in the poll as the ThunderWolves return a slew of veteran players on both sides of the ball.
Western Colorado came in third with 66 points after the Mountaineers closed out the 2021 season by earning their first NCAA postseason appearance since 1997. Quarterback Connor Desch and running back Josh Cummings return in the backfield for WCU and complement a stingy defense that led the RMAC and ranked 14th nationally in team tackles for loss (8.2) last year.
Colorado Mesa came in fourth with 53 points, followed by Chadron State College (47), South Dakota Mines (40), Black Hills State (35), New Mexico Highlands (25), Adams State (22) and Fort Lewis (11).
Colorado Mines is also ranked No. 4 in the American Football Coaches Association’s Division II preseason coaches poll while Western is No. 17.
Ahead of the football season, the league announced that Nexstar Media’s affiliate network, KWGN Colorado’s Own Channel 2, will simulcast all five of the Orediggers’ home football games for the upcoming season, including its contest Nov. 12 against Fort Lewis.
In the RMAC Volleyball Preseason Coaches Poll released Tuesday, Metropolitan State University of Denver received 10 first-place votes to come in as the No. 1 team, but Colorado Mesa, Colorado School of Mines, Regis and Colorado State University of Pueblo also received at least one first-place vote.
The Roadrunners closed out their 2021 campaign with a 28-4 overall record and a flawless 18-0 run through RMAC regular-season play. MSU Denver’s regular-season championship was one of the team’s many accolades, as they also spent five weeks ranked No. 1 in the AVCA Division II Top-25 poll before closing the year at No. 3. Reigning RMAC Player of the Year Rylee Hladky returns to lead the Roadrunners.
Mesa and Mines came in tied for second in the poll with 172 points, followed by Regis (162), CSU Pueblo (150), Colorado Christian (121), Adams State (97), University of Colorado Colorado Springs (89), Western Colorado (81) and South Dakota Mines (81), Fort Lewis (72) and New Mexico Highlands (72), Black Hills State (49), Chadron (37) and Westminster (28) in 15th.
