Panther Football

Two Panther football players recently received additional All-American Honors by the College Sporting News.

The 2007 CSN preseason NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision All-American teams included senior linebacker Donald Thomas and senior wide receiver Micah Rucker. Thomas, OVC Defender of the Year for 2006, was named to the second team.

Rucker was a third team preseason All-American. This was the first preseason All American poll that Thomas was not included in the first team during his Eastern career.

Panthers ranked 19th in national preseason poll

For the first time ever, Sports Media Entertainment Network has compiled a national Football Championship Subdivision Poll.

Eastern ranked 19th on the list, receiving 145 votes. This marks the first preseason poll not to select Eastern as the OVC favorites. Tennessee-Martin ranked 16th on the list with 165 votes.

Two-time defending champions Appalachian State University, were picked to repeat as national champs receiving 500 votes. EIU opens the 2007 season on Thursday, Aug. 30 at home against Tennessee Tech.

Broadcast schedule announced for 2007 football season

EIU athletic director Rich McDuffie recently released the official broadcast schedule for the upcoming football season. EIU will have seven of its eleven regular season games broadcast on television.

Among the games being aired are all five home games at O’Brien Stadium and two road games. The Panthers home opener against Tennessee Tech will be shown Thursday, Aug. 30 by CSTV.

The Sept. 8 contest against Purdue will be broadcast on the newly created Big Ten Network. The network should be available to Coles County residents by late August.

WEIU TV Channel 51 will continue to broadcast Panther football to the region as well, showing the other four home games this season.