In one national publication, the Towson football team was ranked No. 18 in a preseason poll, trailing Colonial Athletic Association rivals Richmond (No. 4), William & Mary (No. 13) and James Madison (No. 14). But the Tigers did not garner similar respect from within their own conference.
Towson was picked to finish sixth in the league as revealed during the CAA football media day at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Tuesday morning. For a program that went 7-4 overall and 5-3 in the conference to find itself behind Villanova and New Hampshire in the poll despite finishing ahead of both teams in last year's standings, the slight is sure to be a topic of conversation in the locker room.
"I know my teammates won't like that when we tell them, and hopefully, we use it as motivation positively and we just show that we're better than what we're perceived as," senior running back Darius Victor said. "We don't like it because we're not first, but the good thing about preseason polls and awards and stuff is that it doesn't really matter. We have to go out and prove it week to week. So we're looking forward to going out and competing and showing what we have."
Said senior linebacker Malik Jackson (Franklin), "I just feel like it's a little chip on our shoulders."
Richmond, which shared last fall's CAA championship with James Madison and William & Mary with a 10-4 overall record and 6-2 league mark, was voted as the preseason favorite. The Spiders, who collected 19 of 24 first-place votes, return eight starters each on offense and defense.
William & Mary (9-4, 6-2) and James Madison (9-3, 6-2) were selected second and third in the conference poll.
While Victor and Jackson pounced on an opportunity to air their disagreement with the league vote, Tigers coach Rob Ambrose said the poll should not be taken too seriously by the players.
"I'm pretty ambivalent," he said. "It doesn't really matter. I've been through years when we were picked to finish last and finished first and some years when we were picked to finish first and still finished first. So it's really not how you start, but how you finish."
Ambrose's optimism might be supported by the returns on offense. Behind Victor, who was placed on the preseason All-CAA team, the unit welcomes back seven starters. And the addition of redshirt sophomore quarterback Morgan Mahalak, a transfer from Oregon, convinced Athlon Magazine to put Towson in its preseason poll.
"We're upbeat," said Victor, who has reached at least 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns in each of the past two seasons. "Whenever a new football season comes around, we're always excited about playing football again. It's hot right now, and we've been working hard in the summer to get better, faster and stronger, and we're just ready to put it all together."
A defense that ranked fourth in the CAA in points and total yards allowed bade farewell to six starters, including three-fourths of its secondary with the departures of cornerbacks Alfonso Augustine, Jahmahl Pardner and strong safety Donnell Lewis. But Jackson insisted that the unit has enough talent to fill the voids.
"We're very deep on defense," Jackson said. "I think we're as deep as we've ever been in past years. I feel like any guy we throw in there is going to make a play and do what he has to do. I really do give all of the credit to the coaching staff."
Bouncing back from a 4-8 record in 2014 was the kind of response Ambrose had hoped for from the Tigers. But he has been buoyed by the players' developing maturity.
"They're just a bunch of guys who know they have to go back to work, and they're looking forward to it," he said. "We've done a much better job of growing through this — from that 4-8 year to 7-4 — and the expectations are high and so is the education within the locker room. And it doesn't come from the coaches, it comes from the players."
Towson will play six of its 11 games this season away from Johnny Unitas Stadium, including three in the first four contests. But Victor said the team is eager to report to camp on Aug. 7.
"We're not [No.] 1 and we want to be [No.] 1," he said. "We want to be the best at everything, so that's our goal. I believe we have the team camaraderie. We have matured, we've gotten a lot of snaps under our belts. This is the year."
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