MCKINNEY- For a fifth straight year, the Lone Star Conference held its annual media day gearing up for the 2024 football season at beautiful McKinney ISD Stadium on Thursday.

Central Washington earned 20 first-place votes of the 30 ballots for 286 points to earn the nod as preseason LSC regular season favorite.

Angelo State earned 260 points with six first place votes as last year’s LSC champion, UT Permian Basin, came in third with four first place votes and 244 points.

As for the West Texas A&M football team, the Buffs came in the middle of the pack at sixth in the league.

“I feel that’s fair and where we needed to be,” said Josh Lynn, who enters his second season at the WTAMU head football coach. We haven’t done anything to merit anything else. We’re building and we weren’t that good a football team. We’re older now and have more experience and I can’t wait to get going.”

Here’s a look at how the voting for the 2024 LSC preseason football poll broke down.

The Buffs struggled in Lynn’s first year with a 3-7 overall record and a 2-6 mark in the LSC.

WT does return 12 starters with 44 returning players including veteran senior linebacker JT Cavender. Cavender is coming off a fantastic junior season where he racked up 109 tackles.

“I definitely agree with where we landed in the pole,” Cavender said. “I think a lot of people don’t realize what we have now and we’re coming into the year. I think we’ll surprise some people. We have a lot of experience and young guys that will step up.”

Lynn agreed with Cavender’s comment.

“I’m kind of glad we’re flying under the radar,” said Lynn, who is 77-60 in 13 total years as a head football coach. “We have a lot of guys that played last year that got a lot of reps. We have guys buying in and the numbers in the summer workouts have been tremendous. It’s encouraging and we have a lot of confidence through our leadership.”

WTAMU opens fall camp on Tuesday, Aug. 6. The season opener is set for Aug. 29, on the road against Sul Ross State.

Notes from LSC Media Day

Randall High School graduate and Eastern New Mexico senior Zerrian Meander was one of the players to represent the Greyhounds during LSC media day.

The defensive back missed all of the 2023 season with a knee injury but is back and healthy with one year of eligibility remaining. In 2022, Meander made 65 tackles with 43 of those solo.

“I’m excited to be back and healthy,” Meander said. “The training staff worked hard to help me come back and I’m very blessed. A lot of people don’t get this opportunity.”

Central Washington swept the LSC preseason awards. Tyler Flanagan won the 2024 LSC Offensive preseason honor after rushing for 1,014 yards with 15 touchdowns. Teammate Tanner Volk won the 2024 LSC Defensive Player of the Year following 124 tackles last season. Volk had 17 pass breakups and was an All-American selection.

The dean of the LSC, Bill Maskill, announced his retirement from Midwestern State after 22 years on the sideline. Rich Renner was announced as the predecessor to follow in Maskill’s footsteps as the Mustangs new head football coach. Renner has been the defensive coordinator for MSU the last 16 seasons.

Sul Ross State is back in the LSC for the first time in over 70 years. The Lobos make the move from Division III where they were 4-6 last year.

LSC commissioner Jay Poerner made his yearly presentation to open media day Thursday. On top of the many announcements, Poerner confirmed the announcement of UT Dallas joining the league in 2025.

“There is a lot of excitement coming into the year,” Poerner said. “We had Sul Ross State help the conference tremendously in football. UT Dallas just got accepted and will be a great addition to the league. Instant replay was a big success last year, so we’re adding to the sideline technology allowing them to use the sideline tablets. It will be another step forward for the student-athletes to perform at a higher level.”