Athlon tabs WVU fifth
MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia University's football team is ranked No. 5 in Athlon Sports' preseason Top 25.
What's more, the magazine, which hits the newsstands on June 5, predicts the Mountaineers will win the Big East championship.
Rich Rodriguez, in his seventh year as his alma mater's head coach, admittedly never complains about high expectations.
"There should be (high) expectations when you've worked to build a program up and had some success," he said recently.
"We have a lot of players coming back from what was an excellent team last season. So it's natural that people know about us."
Rutgers is ranked No. 10 by Athlon and Louisville No. 13. Both are expected to be WVU's chief challengers in the Big East.
Under the heading "Offense expected to carry load for WVU," Athlon wrote:
"The Mountaineers came up just shy of a BCS bowl berth last year. But with the dangerous legs of Steve Slaton and Pat White returning to lead one of the nation's most potent all-around offenses, this year could hold outstanding results."
However, Steve Slaton, a consensus All-America first-team selection in 2006 as a sophomore, was named only to Athlon's All-America second team.
Safety Eric Wicks was accorded the same status. Keilein Dykes, leader of WVU's defensive line, made the All-America third team.
White, who was voted Big East offensive player of the year last season, was all but ignored by this publication.
He was named to the all-Big East second team along with five teammates. Yet Athlon said its West Virginia regional edition will feature Steve Slaton and White on the front cover.
Steve Slaton, Wicks, Dykes, offensive lineman Ryan Stanchek and punter/kicker Pat McAfee are on the all-league first team.
Besides White, Mountaineers on the all-Big East second team include fullback Owen Schmitt, wide receiver/kick returner Darius Reynaud, offensive lineman Jake Figner, linebacker Reed Williams and punt returner Vaughn Rivers.
Center Mike Dent, offensive lineman Greg Isdaner, defensive lineman Johnny Dingle, linebacker Johnny Holmes and safety Quinton Andrews are on the third team.
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