Speaking of the Southland

There have been several things going on around the Southland Conference the last few days and this week in general, so though writing about the SLC for the annual College Sporting News preview magazine is priority number one, we'll take a break and catch up on some of the news around the league.

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The Any Given Saturday poll was [url=http://collegesportingnews.com/content.php?202-2010-FCS-Preseason-AGS-Poll-Announced]announced on Tuesday afternoon[/url]. The turnout for the poll was very good and as the announcement indicates, "in comparison to other polls, the AGS Poll had as many or more of it’s preseason top 25 on it’s final regular season poll than either of the other two polls (coaches and media) had on their’s since their inception five years ago."

This year, the base of voters for AGS have Stephen F. Austin at No. 11 and McNeese State at No. 13. Are these rankings just? My personal opinion is that SFA should be a top 10 team ahead of Elon and South Carolina State. You could even make the argument later this week that Villanova could slip out of the top 10 depending on how the Major League Baseball amateur draft goes as it pertains to the Division I National Championship Game MVP.

Other SLC schools receiving recognition were Texas State (41 votes), Central Arkansas (11) and Southeastern Lousiana (9). Of the SLC squads, I had SFA and MSU in my top 25, but also had SLU. I was surprised that SLU finished behind both TXST and UCA, but what matters most is at the end of the season.

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Lindy's also released their preseason poll. SFA was ranked No. 8 with TXST and MSU following at No. 14 and No. 16, respectively. The early reception for this poll indicates that fans were surprised by the placement of several squads, including TXST, No. 11 Eastern Illinois, No. 12 Prairie View A&M, No. 19 Grambling and No. 21 Missouri State. I agree with those assessments on all accounts. Once you get into those final three, four spots at this time of year - it truly is a toss-up!

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The SLC meetings have gotten underway.

One of the early notes out of the meetings is that Assistant Commissioner for Communications Todd Lamb made a presentation to the Southland's Advisory Council on social media. The SLC has typically been at the forefront of embracing new media and that is an easy tip of the stetson hat to Lamb and Commissioner Tom Burnett. Both are very active on Twitter, which has been embraced by many of the SLC schools.

Several schools including Sam Houston State (Jason Barfield) and Northwestern State (Doug Ireland, Matt Bonnette and company) run blogs. Others have began to incorporate YouTube with their athletic programs. All steps in the right direction!

If there is any important news that comes out of the SLC meetings, we'll share it here.

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[b]Southland Quick Hits[/b]

• McNeese's Toddrick Pendland and Wes Mangan [url=http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/log/index.php/2010/05/27/mcneese-s-toddrick-pendland-and-wes-mang?blog=2]signed professional contracts[/url] last week. Pendland signed with the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League, while Mangan inked with the Las Vegas Locomotives of the United Football League.

• Lamar added another Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) transfer this week as [url=http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/log/index.php/2010/06/01/texas-aaamp-m-football-player-transfers?blog=2]former Texas A&M player Adren Dorsey[/url] will join the team. Dorsey left College Station after A&M head coach Mike Sherman suspended him following an April arrest for family violence.

• The rumor mill is heating up as it relates to former [url=http://www.collegesportingnews.com/entry.php?74-TXST-Seeks-a-Starting-QB-amp-SLC-Quick-Hits]TXST quarterback Eric Soza[/url], who left the Bobcats' program and a gaping hole at the quarterback position. As we said on May 18th, there is a possibility that he could follow his former [url=http://www.collegesportingnews.com/entry.php?15-Let-the-Battle-Begin-UTSA-vs-Texas-State]offensive coordinator Travis Bush[/url] to I-35 rival UT-San Antonio.

• Clint Conque knows a thing or two about how to mold a quarterback. While he just added [url=http://www.ucasports.com/sport.asp?action=news&sportid=1&article=3774]Arkansas transfer Jim Youngblood[/url], Conque has a QB in his own backyard, literally. Son Zach Conque (6'4, 195) has been invited to camps at Arkansas and Notre Dame. Additionally, Memphis and Kansas are showing interest. Also on his itinerary for the summer is a trip to the Manning Passing Academy.