Preseason Football Hype Grows For Cards
July 11, 2002 | Football
July 11, 2002
The calendar may say its only mid-July, but a trip to the newsstand reveals that football season is right around the corner. Louisville is a consensus Top 20 team in the publications that have been released, while 10 different Conference USA players have been named first, second or third team preseason All-American by at least one publication.
Below is a synopsis of national rankings, All-Americans and position rankings as well as the predicted order of conference finish by the different publications:
NATIONAL RANKINGSAthlon's 16-Louisville
Football Action 19-Louisville
Football News 19-Louisville
Lindy's 20-Louisville
Phil Steele's 32-Louisville
The Sporting News 13-Louisville 26-Southern Miss
Street & Smith's 20-Louisville
C-USA PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH Athlon Sports 1-Louisville 2-Southern Miss 3-Cincinnati 4-Memphis 5-East Carolina 6-TCU 7-UAB 8-Tulane 9-Army 10-Houston
Football Action 1-Louisville 2-Cincinnati 3-Southern Miss 4-TCU 5-UAB 6-Memphis 7-East Carolina 8-Tulane 9-Houston 10-Army
Lindy's 1-Louisville 2-Southern Miss 3-Cincinnati 4-TCU 5-East Carolina 6-UAB 7-Memphis 8-Houston 9-Tulane 10-Army
Phil Steele's 1-Louisville 2-Southern Miss 3-East Carolina 4-TCU 5-Cincinnati 6-Memphis 7-Tulane 8-Army 9-Houston 10-UAB
The Sporting News 1-Louisville 2-Southern Miss 3-TCU 4-Cincinnati 5-Memphis 6-East Carolina 7-Tulane 8-Houston 9-UAB 10-Army
Street & Smith's 1-Louisville 2-Southern Miss 3-Cincinnati 4-TCU 5-Memphis 6-East Carolina 7-UAB 8-Houston 9-Army 10-Tulane
PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS
Athlon Sports First Team Seth Marler, K, Tulane Second Team Ronnie Ghent, TE, Louisville Dewayne White, DE, Louisville Third Team Josh Gardner, OL, Cincinnati Anthony Floyd, DB, Louisville
Football Action First Team Seth Marler, K, Tulane Second Team Rod Davis, LB, Southern Miss Jonathan Ruffin, K, Cincinnati
Football News First Team Seth Marler, K, Tulane Dewayne White, DE, Louisville Third Team Brian Rimpf, OL, East Carolina Rod Davis, LB, Southern Miss Anthony Floyd, DB, Cincinnati
Lindy's First Team Dewayne White, DE, Louisville Second Team Seth Marler, K, Tulane
Phil Steele's First Team Seth Marler, K, Tulane Second Team Dewayne White, DE, Louisville Third Team Dave Ragone, QB, Louisville Fourth Team Kirt Doolin, OL, Cincinnati
Sporting News First Team Seth Marler, K, Tulane Second Team Dewayne White, DE, Louisville
Street & Smith's Second Team Dewayne White, DE, Louisville
Honorable Mentions Dave Ragone, QB, Louisville Mewelde Moore, RB, Tulane LaDaris Vann, WR, Cincinnati Ronnie Ghent, TE, Louisville Brian Rimpf, OL, East Carolina Rex Hadnot, OL, Houston Antwan Peek, DE, Cincinnati LaMarcus McDonald, LB, TCU Rod Davis, LB, Southern Miss Anthony Floyd, DB, Louisville Hanik Milligan, DB, Houston Jason Goss, DB, TCU Jermain Woodard, DB, Houston Seth Marler, K, Tulane
PRESEASON NATIONAL POSITION RANKINGS
Athlon Sports Top Quarterback Units 8-Louisville Top Defensive Line Units 10-Louisville Top WR/TE Units 9-Cincinnati Top Defensive Back Units 1-Louisville
Lindy's Top Quarterbacks 6-Dave Ragone, Louisville 25-Gino Guidugli, Cincinnati Top Running Backs 9-Mewelde Moore, Tulane Top Tight Ends 8-Ronnie Ghent, Louisville Top Offensive Tackles 7-Brian Rimpf, East Carolina Top Defensive Ends 2-Dewayne White, Louisville 8-Antwan Peek, Cincinnati Top Inside Linebackers 12-Rod Davis, Southern Miss Top Inside Safeties 6-Anthony Floyd, Louisville Top Kickers 2-Seth Marler, Tulane Top Punters 7-Jarad Preston
The Sporting News Top Backfields 5-Louisville Top Defensive Lines 6-Southern Miss 10-Louisville Top Secondaries 3-Louisville
Top Quarterbacks 4-Dave Ragone, Louisville 21-Gino Guidugli, Cincinnati Top Running Backs 14-Mewelde Moore, Tulane Top Wide Receivers 21-LaDaris Vann, Cincinnati Top Tight Ends 7-Ronnie Ghent, Louisville Top Offensive Tackles 17-Brian Rimpf, East Carolina Top Guards 8-Torrin Tucker, Southern Miss Top Centers 16-Jamal Powell, TCU 24-Jimond Pugh, Memphis Top Defensive Ends 3-Dewayne White, Louisville 19-Antwan Peek, Cincinnati Top Middle Linebackers 9-Rod Davis, Southern Miss Top Outside Linebackers 9-Michael Brown, Louisville 16-LaMarcus McDonald, TCU 24-John Williamson, East Carolina Top Cornerbacks 16-Greg Brooks, Southern Miss 21-Jason Goss, TCU Top Free Safeties 3-Anthony Floyd, Louisville 19-Hanik Milligan, Houston Top Kickers 1-Seth Marler, Tulane 17-Kevin Miller, East Carolina 18-Jonathan Ruffin, Cincinnati Top Punters 24-Jarad Preston, East Carolina Top Kick Returners 4-LaTarence Dunbar, TCU 22-Marvin Townes, East Carolina
