SAC Football Preseason All-Conference Team Released

ROCK HILL, S.C. – The 2012 SAC football preseason All-Conference Team was released on Tuesday, with Tusculum leading the way with nine selections.

Despite being picked No. 6 in the preseason SAC coaches poll, Tusculum had three players named to the preseason All-SAC First Team and a league-high six earn spots on the Second Team.

Headlining Tusculum's All-SAC selections was first-team quarterback Bo Cordell, who returns this season after missing most of 2011 with a foot injury. Cordell, the 2010 SAC Offensive Player of the Year, enters 2012 seventh on both the SAC's all-time passing yards and total offensive yards list.

After earning a share of the SAC title last season, Mars Hill heads into 2012 with eight preseason All-SAC selections, including five on the First Team. The Lions were picked second in the SAC preseason coaches' poll.

Defensive lineman Troy Harris, who was a 2011 All-American after recording nine sacks, leads MHC's first-team selections.

Carson-Newman also had eight players selected to the preseason All-SAC team, including first-teamers Tyron Douglas (running back), Alex Taylor (offensive lineman) and Kevin Day (offensive lineman).

Douglas averaged 6.6 yards-per-carry last season for the Eagles and scored 12 touchdowns.

Catawba, Newberry and Wingate all had seven players named to the preseason All-SAC Team.

Of Newberry's selections, four were named to the First Team, including 2011 All-America linebacker Apollo Stretch, who led the SAC by averaging 10.5 tackles per game last season.

Catawba and Wingate, meanwhile, both had three preseason All-SAC First Team picks. Leading Wingate's selections is preseason All-America wide receiver Chris Bowden, who is coming off a 2011 season in which he hauled in 76 receptions for 1,064 yards and nine touchdowns.

All three of Catawba's first-team players are on the defensive side.

Lenoir-Rhyne, which was voted No. 1 in the SAC preseason coaches' poll after splitting last year's conference title with Mars Hill, placed six on the All-SAC Team, including five first-teamers.

Three of L-R's first-team picks – linebacker Demetrius Green, defensive back Michael Green and defensive lineman Brandon Martin – have also been named preseason All-Americans.

Six Brevard players were named to the preseason All-SAC Team, including Eric Watts, a first-team selection at both wide receiver and punter.

The preseason All-SAC Team is voted on by the league's media relations directors.

[Complete Preseason All-SAC Team]