June 28, 2002

Cullowhee, N.C. - The Western Carolina football team is ranked 22nd in Street & Smith's preseason college football edition. The magazine additionally picked the Catamounts to finish third in the Southern Conference.

Street & Smith's highlighted five "games to watch" in the SoCon which included the Western Carolina-East Tennessee State contest (Sept. 28 at E.J. Whitmire Stadium/Bob Waters Field) and the WCU-Furman meeting (Oct. 5 in Greenville, S.C.).

Western was also a top 25 pick by Tony Moss, Executive Director of I-AA Football for The Sports Network , in his weekly "Third and Long" column. Moss has the Catamounts ranked 24th and says, "(Western Carolina) could be a surprise in the SoCon title hunt." (The Sports Network , which conducts one of the major I-AA football polls, will release its official preseason poll on August 12.)

Moss also conducted a breakdown of the top individual players in I-AA, which included Western Carolina's Michael Banks and Fred Boateng. Banks, tabbed the seventh-best wideout in I-AA after his 1,000-yard campaign as a sophomore, is listed 13th this season. The senior only had 697 receiving yards last season, but was still a consensus first team All-SoCon selection by ranking second in the league in receiving yards and third in receptions. Banks (Spotsylvania, Va.) additionally garnered honorable mention All-American honors by Don Hansen's National Weekly Football Gazette last season.

"Banks is a bit more of a shake and bake-type guy," said Chattanooga head coach Donnie Kirkpatrick. "He's got good quickness and runs really good routes. I think that's probably the big thing, he gets open."

Boateng, an All-SoCon pick in 2000 and 2001, enters his junior season rated the 10th-best running back in I-AA and the highest-rated back in the SoCon. Moss said, "With Georgia Southern's Adrian Peterson and Furman's Louis Ivory finally off the Southern Conference coaches' lists of worries, Boateng becomes the league's most dangerous returning running back." Last season, Boateng tallied 1,225 rushing yards, which ranks third on the WCU single-season list, and 12 touchdowns. The Falls Church, Va., native has 2,159 career rushing yards to rank eighth on Western's all-time list and only needs 289 yards to vault into fourth.

"(Boateng) is a big, strong, physical back," said Wofford head coach Mike Ayers. "He's a guy you have to hit early and you have to get a lot of people around him. I think he has excellent athletic skills for a big back and he's tough. Their offensive line does an excellent job of creating space for him. Every time he touches the ball he has the ability to take it the distance."

Western's opposition in 2002 will be formidable. Auburn, who WCU faces on Sept. 7, ranked among the top 25 in nearly all the I-A preseason polls. Starting Sept. 28, a home meeting with East Tennessee State, the Cats will face three consecutive teams ranked among the nation's top 15. Street & Smith's has the Buccaneers ranked eighth. The following week, Oct. 5, WCU plays at Furman, who is picked eighth by Moss and 13th in Lindy's preseason football edition. Western ends the string on Oct. 12 (Hall of Fame Weekend) when it hosts Georgia Southern, who is ranked fourth in Lindy's and 10th by Moss. WCU will conclude the regular season on Nov. 16 in Cullowhee when the Cats battle Appalachian State for the "Old Mountain Jug." The Mountaineers are ranked fifth by Moss, while Lindy's and Street & Smith's puts the Apps seventh.

The Catamounts open the 2002 season on August 31 at Liberty. Following its game at Auburn on Sept. 7, Western will play its home opener on Sept. 14 versus West Virginia Tech.