Hounds' goal: More than four

McKINNEY, Texas — Fourth place is neither the penthouse nor the basement.

And fourth is where the Eastern New Mexico football team was projected out of a nine-team field when the Lone Star Conference’s preseason poll was released at Monday’s LSC Media Day.

Coming off a 5-6 season, Eastern New Mexico head football coach Kelley Lee will take the prediction — for now. But when it comes time to go out and do it on the field, Lee thinks his team is capable of so much more.

“It’s nice to get some respect and to show that you’re really up there,” Lee said. “It’s about where we should be ranked, in that area, knocking on the door. But we want to finish higher than we’re ranked.”

Tarleton State was selected to finish first in the poll, with 217 votes as the defending Lone Star Conference champion, while Midwestern State and Texas A&M-Commerce were selected to finish second and third, respectively, just ahead of ENMU.

Eastern received 130 total votes, eight votes more than Angelo State and 11 more than arch rival West Texas A&M.

Midwestern State receiver Juwan Johnson was selected as the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, while UT Permian Basin linebacker Chris Hoad received Preseason Defensive Player of the Year honors.

Last year’s Greyhounds went 4-4 in the conference, and finished in a tie for fourth place with both Angelo State and West Texas A&M. The Hounds will return 14 total starters in 2019 including a trio of seasoned returnees in redshirt senior quarterback Wyatt Strand, fullback Paul Terry and linebacker Noah Sweitzer, all of whom represented Eastern at Monday’s Media Day, along with Lee.

Strand, Terry and Sweitzer are some key pieces of a team that seems it might need only to put all the pieces together to get back to or near the 8-2 level of 2017.

“We have a good group of kids that played a lot of football that were young (last year),” Lee said. “Now they’re experienced, now they’re veterans. We had a tough schedule last year, so they played a lot of really meaningful (games). So we’re hoping that transitions to real big play this year.”

It will start with Strand, who enters his final college season having made 32 consecutive starts at quarterback.

“It’s a blessing to learn under Coach Lee and his staff,” Strand said. “I’ve never seen a coach more prepared, and we’re really just excited to continue to build upon what we’ve built here at Eastern New Mexico. We have a lot of guys returning, and it’s been fun to play with them every day. We’ve been putting in a lot of work, and it’s truly been a pleasure to play for Eastern New Mexico. And we have some high expectations for this year.”

Strand will likely hand off a lot to Terry, who was among the runners helping fill the void left by Eastern’s all-time leading rusher Kamal Cass’ graduation.

“He’s a great player, great young man,” Lee said of Terry. “He had a really good year, but I think there’s a lot more to be seen. The last two springs he’s really been fantastic. I expect him to really have a breakout season this year, really be a dominating player in the conference. He’s really quick and he can make people miss and he has a strong lower body, so he’s hard to tackle. He can do a lot of things, and we’re excited and glad to have him back.”

Terry played in all 11 games last year and had double-digit carries in each, never carrying less than 11 times. His season-high for carries was 24 in Week 3 against Texas A&M-Commerce. His single-game rushing high was 145 yards against Colorado Mesa in Week 2.

Terry finished the season with 989 yards and 10 touchdowns on 204 carries (4.8 yards per carry).

“Last year went well,” he said, “but I want to have high expectations for myself and want to continue to improve. Playing with Wyatt has been a blessing; he always puts us in the right position to make plays. Our offense is really explosive, and I think we’re going to continue to get better moving into this year. For me, it’s been really exciting to be a part of something so special, and I am ready to get on the field this year.”

On the other side of the ball, Sweitzer should be an even more integral part of defensive coordinator Michael Walton’s unit now that five-year linebacking standout Brad Hardin has graduated.

“Last year was really good for me,” Sweitzer said, “and Coach Walton has really brought a lot to our defense in this second year, and I’m just really excited. I am just so thankful to play with these guys, and we have been working together throughout the offseason to be able to continue to play at a high level this year. Paul and Wyatt have both been great leaders, and we really want to play well this year for those guys.”

The season begins on Sept. 7 at Greyhound Stadium against Missouri S&T. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m.