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The EMCC Lions, reigning MACJC state champions and defending Mississippi Bowl champions, will enter their Sept. 2 season opener at Mississippi Gulf Coast ranked seventh nationally in the 2010 NJCAA Football Preseason Top 25.
Under the direction of third-year head coach Buddy Stephens, the EMCC Lions are the reigning MACJC state champions who went on to claim the 2009 Mississippi Bowl title with a 27-24 win over 2010 preseason No. 2-ranked Arizona Western last December in Biloxi. With a combined 19-3 overall record the last two years, including an 11-1 mark and No. 4 final ranking a year ago, East Mississippi enters the 2010 campaign having claimed back-to-back MACJC North Division titles with consecutive 6-0 league marks.
Blinn College (Texas) begins 2010 as the nation’s top-ranked team after winning the national championship last season. Arizona Western and Fort Scott (Kan.), last year’s NJCAA runner-up, are ranked second and third, respectively, in this year’s preseason national poll. Navarro College (Texas) is fourth, followed by Mississippi Gulf Coast and Butler (Kan.) at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively. The NJCAA’s Preseason Top 10 concludes with No. 8 Snow College (Utah), No. 9 Ellsworth (Iowa) and No. 10 Grand Rapids (Mich.). Other Mississippi-based schools listed in this year’s NJCAA Preseason Top 25 include Pearl River (13th), Jones County (19th), Northwest Mississippi (22nd) and Coahoma (25th).
The 2010 EMCC Lions return only 15 lettermen, including just seven starters, from last year’s school-first state championship squad. A total of 27 players from East Mississippi’s program-best 11-1 club went on to sign with four-year schools this past year, including All-American quarterback Randall Mackey at Ole Miss and defensive lineman Brandon Lewis of the defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide.
Additionally, the EMCC Lions are ranked fourth in JCGridwire.com’s Dirty 30 preseason rankings and 17th nationally by The Sporting News’ preseason publication.
East Mississippi kicks off the 2010 campaign by taking on Mississippi Gulf Coast, Sept. 2 in Perkinston, in a much-anticipated rematch of last year’s high-scoring MACJC state championship affair. Last Nov. 7 in Scooba, the home-standing Lions scored a memorable 75-71 shootout victory over MGCCC to earn the school’s first state football championship. EMCC’s 2010 home slate begins with back-to-back home outings against Hinds and Northwest Mississippi on Sept. 9 and 16, respectively, at Sullivan-Windham Field on the Scooba campus.