LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree University football team was tabbed to finish third in the 2022 Great Lakes Valley Conference Football Preseason poll, which was released Friday afternoon in conjunction with the 2022 GLVC Football Kickoff held at the Hettenhausen Center for the Arts on the McKendree campus.
 
In the poll that was voted on by the league's seven head coaches (the coaches couldn't vote for their own teams), the Bearcats garnered 22 points. The GLVC, which is down to seven teams this season with Lindenwood moving to the NCAA Division I level on July 1, 2022, will mark its 11th season of action this coming fall.
 
Last season, McKendree went 4-7 overall and tied for fifth in the GLVC standings with a 3-5 mark. Head coach Mike Babcock, who enters his 10th season at the helm of the Bearcats' program, welcomes back 59 lettermen, including a total of 10 starters back from a season ago. Babcock's 10th team has five starters back on offense, three starters on defense and two on special teams.
 
Among the top returning offensive starters are redshirt junior quarterback Turner Pullen (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville), who was named an Honorable Mention All-GLVC selection in 2021, enters the 2022 campaign second on the school's total offense chart (5,868 yards), second in career passing yards (5,212 yards) and second in career touchdown passes (47). In addition to Pullen, redshirt junior receiver Jacob Bachman (Eureka, Ill./Eureka), who was named a First-Team All-GLVC selection a season ago after catching a school record 80 passes for 857 yards and recorded 1,147 all-purpose yards and averaged 10.7 yards per reception. Other key returning starters are sophomore running back Narkel Leflore (Chatham, Ill./Glenwood), who rushed for 516 yards on 82 carries and led the team in all-purpose yards with 1,251 and averaged 125.1 per game and two offensive linemen – redshirt senior Kenny Thomason (Mahomet, Ill./Mahomet-Seymour) and redshirt sophomore Nolan Puent (Washington, Ill./Washington). Thomason has been a three-year starter at right tackle and Puent has been a two-year starter at right guard.
 
Meanwhile, on defense, the top returning starters are sophomore defensive lineman Samuel Amponsah (Romeoville, Ill./Plainfield East), who was an Honorable Mention All-GLVC selection in 2021 after recording 37 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and four sacks, while junior defensive back Drew Crooks (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington), who was an Honorable Mention All-GLVC selection last season after recording 38 tackles and breaking up five passes and redshirt junior defensive back Kenneth Scarbrough III (East St. Louis, Ill./East St. Louis), who was also an Honorable Mention All-GLVC selection last season after posting 16 tackles, one sack, collecting one interception and breaking up a team-best eight passes.
 
Two other key defensive starters returning after missing most of last season due to injuries are redshirt sophomore linebacker Luca Gualdoni (Johnston City, Ill./Johnston City) and graduate student linebacker Iben King (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice). Gualdoni missed all of the 2021 season due to injury, while King played just four games last season before suffering a season ending injury. In those four games, he had 11 tackles, two pass break-ups and one tackle for loss.

McKendree's top special team returners are redshirt sophomore Kaleb Barry (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) and junior Ryan Kastl (Washington, Ill./Washington). Barry, who will be the punter this season, was 5-for-8 on field goals and 12-for-14 on extra points and was fifth on the team in scoring with 27 points a season ago, while Kastl was 8-for-11 on field goals, 22-for-26 on extra points and was third on the team in scoring with 46 points.
 
The University of Indianapolis was picked as the unanimous favorite to win the GLVC football title in 2022. The Greyhounds grabbed six of seven first-place votes and received 36 points in the poll. Truman State finished second in the poll as the Bulldogs earned 31 points and the final first place vote.
 
Behind McKendree in fourth place in the poll was Southwest Baptist as the Bearcats earned 20 points, while Missouri S&T was picked fifth with 18 points. Quincy (14 points) and William Jewell (six points) rounded out the league's preseason poll at No. 6 and 7 respectively.
 
McKendree is scheduled to play an 11-game schedule in 2022 as they open the 2022 season with a 6 p.m. ET game on Thursday, Sept. 1 in Marquette, Mich., against Northern Michigan University. Other non-conference opponents for the Bearcats are home games on Sept. 10 against Delta State University and Sept. 24 against Walsh University, while playing road games on Sept. 17 against Lake Erie College and on Nov. 12 against Lindenwood.  The Bearcats' six-game GLVC schedule begins on Oct. 1 with a road contest at William Jewell College and will host Southwest Baptist in its annual Homecoming contest on Oct. 29.