The 2009 preseason football polls are beginning to surface. Wabash is picked in the top-20 in both The Sporting News and Lindy's Sports Annuals college football magazines. Junior wide receiver Kody LeMond is also a preseason All-America selection by both publications.
The Sporting News picked Wabash 10th in its 2009 preseason poll. LeMond joins Mount Union's Cecil Shorts III and Dickinson's Patrick O'Connor as preseason First All-America picks at wide receiver. Lindy's placed the Little Giant football team 19th in it top-25 poll, while naming LeMond to its All-America Second Team.
Wabash was 10-2 last season and was ranked as high as number two in the American Football Coaches Association and number three in the D3football.com polls. The Little Giants won their fourth consecutive North Coast Athletic Conference title with a 7-0 league mark while earning a second straight trip to the NCAA Division III Football Playoffs before losing in the second round to Wheaton College.
LeMond was a First Team All-NCAC pick and a Second Team All-D3football.com North Region pick in 2008. He finished the season with a team-high 73 receptions for 1,228 to set Wabash and NCAC single-season receiving yardage records. LeMond caught 14 touchdowns, three shy of tying the school and conference record in a season. He ranked 19th in the nation among DIII players with an average of 102.33 receiving yards per game.
Defending national champion Mount Union is the top preseason pick by Lindy's. The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, runners-up last season after winning the national title in 2007, are the number-one pick by The Sporting News. That publication also named the October 17 game between Wittenberg and Wabash as one of the top games to watch in 2009.
Wabash opens the 2009 campaign on September 12 at home against Denison University. Both The Sporting News and Lindy's Sports Annuals 2009 college football preseason magazines are currently on sale at newsstands throughout the country.
Photo - Kody LeMond earned preseason All-America honors from two publication after posting record-setting numbers as a sophomore wide receiver in 2008.