Elon, N.C. – The Elon University football team was picked to finish fifth in the expanded 15-team Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Tuesday, as voted on by the league's head coaches. Also, the CAA announced that
Johncarlos Miller II,
Bo Sanders and
Chandler Brayboy were named preseason all-conference, while
Jalen Hampton and
Jabril Williams earned honorable mention status.
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The only program in the CAA to finish in the top three of the final league standings in each of the past two years, Elon earned 146 points in preseason poll. Delaware edged the Phoenix for fourth place with 149 points and Richmond was third with 159. William & Mary was the CAA preseason favorite, picking up 13-of-15 first-place votes and 195 points, while New Hampshire was second with 179 points. New Hampshire and Delaware each earned one first-place vote.
Rhode Island was picked sixth in the preseason poll, followed by Villanova, Monmouth, Towson and CAA newcomer North Carolina A&T. UAlbany was selected 11
th with another new program, Campbell, picked 12
th. Maine, Stony Brook and Hampton rounded out the preseason poll.
Elon has routinely finished higher than preseason predictions under head coach
Tony Trisciani. In 2021, the Phoenix was picked to finish last in the 12-team league but ended in sole possession of third place. A year ago, Elon was selected sixth but tied for third and earned an at-large bid to the FCS playoffs. The Phoenix finished the year ranked No. 17 in the Stats Perform Media Poll and No. 18 in the AFCA Coaches Poll.
Individually, Elon had three players named to the preseason All-CAA team in Miller III, Sanders and Brayboy. Hampton and Williams were named honorable mention.
Miller II was selected to the preseason All-CAA team at the h-back position. In his redshirt freshman campaign a year ago, Miller II started 11 games and ended fourth on the team with 26 receptions. He had 201 yards receiving and three touchdowns, as well as blocking two field goal attempts on special teams. His first career touchdown came in overtime on a 25-yard catch and run against Richmond – a game in which he also recorded one of his two blocked field goals. The versatile playmaker was also inserted on defense and broke up a hail mary pass on the final play of a wild 35-31 win at William & Mary.
Sanders was named preseason All-CAA as a safety and enters his senior year having played in 34 career games, including every game over the last two seasons. He is the team's top returning tackler, posting 69 tackles, 46 of which were solo. He added 5.5 tackles for loss, five pass break-ups, a sack, an interception and a fumble recovery in the double overtime win over Richmond. He had 11 tackles in that contest as well. Sanders added an interception in the team's come-from-behind win over William & Mary, adding seven tackles.
Brayboy was a specialist on the preseason All-CAA team after being named to the third team a year ago in the same position. The team's starting wide receiver, primary kick returner, and a key piece in defending the return game, Brayboy makes an impact in multiple ways. He caught 28 passes for 475 yards a year ago and averaged 21.2 yards on kick returns. He added five tackles on special teams as well. Brayboy had 105 yards receiving and a touchdown against Vanderbilt a year ago and catapulted the team to an important win over Delaware. Against the Blue Hens, he had four receptions and a touchdown, adding a season-long 46-yard kick return.
As a redshirt freshman in 2022, Hampton was named third team All-CAA and a HERO Sports Freshman All-American after becoming just the second running back in Elon's FCS history to rush for at least 1,000 yards in a single season, doing so in just his 10
th game of the season. He rushed for at least 135 yards in a game four times, ending with 1,053 yards and 10 touchdowns. He rushed for at least 80 yards in eight of the 11 games he played in. Hampton had three rushing touchdowns in a 35-31 road win at William & Mary and carried the ball 34 times for 159 yards against Gardner-Webb. He had a season-high 177 yards rushing on 24 carries at Hampton.
Starting all 12 games at right guard, Williams was named third team All-CAA on an offensive line unit that saw the same five players start every game for Elon in 2022. He was part of that unit that paved the way for the Elon offense to rush for at least 120 yards in 10-of-12 games after the Phoenix reached that total just once in 2021. He also protected for a passing game that ranked in the top 20 nationally in efficiency and yards per completion. He was a critical part of Hampton becoming just the second running back in the program's FCS history to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season.
WAKE FOREST TAILGATE INFORMATION ANNOUNCED
The Elon football team opens the season on Thursday, Aug. 31 at Wake Forest with a kick-off time scheduled for 7 p.m. The Phoenix Club and the Office of Alumni Engagement will be sponsoring a pregame tailgate from 4:30-6:30 p.m. on the southeast corner of Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium (between the baseball and tennis complexes). President Connie Ledoux Book will welcome new Director of Athletics Jenn Strawley during the tailgate and all Phoenix alumni, parents and fans are invited to the tailgate. Pricing for the tailgate is $20 and fans can get a game ticket and admission to the tailgate for just $50.
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2023 CAA FOOTBALL PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
(Selected by a vote of Head Coaches)
William & Mary (13 first-place votes), 195
New Hampshire (1 first-place vote), 179
Richmond, 159
Delaware (1 first-place vote), 149
Elon, 146
Rhode Island, 135
Villanova, 129
Monmouth, 94
Towson, 85
North Carolina A&T, 70
UAlbany, 64
Campbell, 62
Maine, 40
Stony Brook, 38
Hampton, 30
-- ELON --
