CLEVELAND, Ohio - College football prognosticator Phil Steele announced his annual Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) preseason top-40 Thursday and tabbed Illinois State as the No. 13 team in the country. Phil Steele's College Football Preview magazine will hit newsstands next week and will include a full page on every FCS team.
Five teams from the Missouri Valley Football Conference were named to the top-40, with Northern Iowa ranking the highest at No. 5. Last year's regular-season champion Southern Illinois also cracked the top-10 at the No. 7 spot and the Redbirds followed at No. 13. South Dakota State was selected No. 18 on the list and Missouri State capped off the selections at the No. 40 spot.
In addition, Steele also released his preseason Missouri Valley Football Conference selections with five Redbirds showing up on the list. Sophomore quarterback Matt Brown, junior defensive tackle Eric Brunner and senior safety Kelvyn Hemphill were all selected to the first team, while junior running back Cliffton Gordon and junior offensive lineman Nick Bledsoe were second-team selections.
Phil Steele's College Football Preview is the nation's most informative preseason football magazine and provides an annual preseason Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) All-American team, as well as preseason FBS All-Conference teams. This year, with the expanded FCS Magazine, Steele included FCS All-American and FCS All-Con¬ference teams in the SEC/ACC/Big East Regional Magazine.
The Redbirds open the 2010 season Thursday, Sept. 2, against Central Missouri, with kickoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Hancock Stadium. Single-game tickets go on sale July 19th at 9 a.m. and season ticket packages are currently available. To order tickets, call the ISU Athletics Ticket Office at (309) 438-8000 or purchase them online at GoRedbirds.com.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, TRC gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
