The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference held its football media day Monday in Colorado Springs. The festivities included the announcement of the 2016 All-RMAC Preseason Team, and team interviews that provided fans with a glimpse of what’s to come in the upcoming season.
New head coach Ed Rifilato’s Fort Lewis College Skyhawks were picked to finish in sixth place at season’s end. FLC offensive lineman Kenny Shinley and linebacker Andrew Ike were named to the Preseason All-RMAC team, and will provide senior leadership on both sides of the ball.
“Kenny Shinley is a hard worker and we have three or four guys retuning on our O-line,” Rifilato said in a news conference. “Last year, we ran the ball for over 200 yards a game, and a big part of that was our running back and our offensive line. We’re fortunate to have a pretty good O-line and a pretty good D-line coming back at this point.”
Shinley was a 2015 All-RMAC selection and part of an offensive line that plowed through defenses to produce the league’s second-best rushing offense with 234 yards on the ground per game. He is one of six returning starters on the league’s fourth-ranking scoring offense in 2015.
On defense, Ike leads a stout group of linebackers that Rifilato expects to lead the defensive unit. The senior 2015 All-RMAC First Teamer led the league last season with three forced fumbles and racked up a team-high 78 tackles. He will be joined by senior Shane Nelson, who also represented Fort Lewis at the league’s media day, and Nelson’s brother Austin who will be dishing out punishment to opposing offenses.
The seniors will be crucial to a team that lost a number of key players and, most importantly, head coach John L. Smith who departed for Kentucky State. Six starters will return on offense and only four on defense, but with Rifilato’s experience and the returning players’ familiarity with him, the learning curve should be minimal. They’re hoping the team can build off the 7-4 overall record last season, its best season since 2006.
“There isn’t big of a change here because Coach (Rifilato) is the only guy who’s been with us for five years,” Shinley said in the media day news conference. “It was a shock to lose Coach Smith, but the mindset and mentality is pretty much the same.”
Rifilato also indicated that a “major quarterback battle” is taking place between redshirt sophomore Bo Coleman and junior transfer Larry Cutbirth III, who comes to Durango from Southeastern Louisiana.
Decisions need to be made quickly, however, as the Skyhawks have just over a month of preparation for the opener at Chadron State.
“We just don’t have much time,” Rifilato said. “We don’t have any preseason games to try and tweak things, so when we show up on Sept. 3 that’s what we’ll have.”
CSU-Pueblo, which swept the RMAC for a 9-0 league record last season, was once again picked to win the conference. Colorado Mines quarterback Justin Dvorak and Western State running back Austin Ekeler were named Preseason Co-Offensive Players of the Year.
William Milo of Colorado Mesa was named Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and Adams State kicker/punter Zach Cimaglia is the Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
