ODESSA, Texas – Tarleton football was picked to finish seventh in the Lone Star Conference preseason poll at the annual LSC football media day at the MCM Elegante Grande Fun Dome in Odessa.
 
The Texans received 121 votes from the media, head coaches, and sports information directors in the conference. Tarleton is coming off a 3-7 campaign in 2015 and went 1-5 in the LSC. The Texans are returning 40 lettermen from last year's squad including four offensive starters and five defensive starters.
 
The Texans will be under the leadership of head coach Todd Whitten, who returns to coach the Purple and White. Whitten was Tarleton's coach in 1996 and again from 2000-04. Whitten boasts a 45-23 (.662) record at Tarleton, ranking second all-time only to W.J. Wisdom's 71 wins.
 
"I know firsthand how tough the Lone Star Conference is," said Whitten. "The LSC has some of the best coaches out there and plenty of talent. The league seems to bounce back and forth in my career. I've seen a lot of different LSC schools be at the top and bottom. It's always fun and I'm anxious to see how the season turns out.
 
"I'm just focused on learning more about the team out guys and anxious to get started and put the pads on and start practicing some football. We have a lot of questions we need to answer, a lot of jobs up for grabs. We are going to go out there and let the guys compete every day."
 
Last season, Tarleton averaged 38.1 points per game and topped 40 points four times. On the offensive side, Tarleton returns both of its leading rushers in Jabari Anderson (621 yards, 10 touchdowns) and Joseph Sadler (588 yards, eight touchdowns). Quarterback Zed Woerner (2,165 yards, 20 touchdowns) will have three of the top four wide receivers back from last season with Dominique Martin (452 yards, two touchdowns), Cooper Cole (373 yards, one touchdown), and Bubba Tandy (365 yards, two touchdowns).
 
After winning the LSC regular season title last season, Texas A&M-Commerce was picked to finish first in the league with 269 points, including 19 first-place votes. Midwestern State, the 2015 LSC Playoff champion, is tabbed to finish second with 254 points and eight first-place votes. Angelo State is picked third (211) followed by West Texas A&M (182), Eastern New Mexico (181), Texas A&M-Kingsville (141).
 
Rounding out the LSC preseason poll are the three newcomers to the conference with Western New Mexico and Oklahoma Panhandle State each getting 66 votes and UT Permian Basin rounding out the league with 49 votes and one first-place vote.
 
In addition to the preseason rankings was the naming of the league's Offensive and Defensive Preseason Players of the Year. Texas A&M-Commerce's Richard Cooper claimed the offensive award and West Texas A&M's Hunter Streuling took home the defensive award.
 
Tarleton will open the 2016 season on September 3 on the road against McNeese State, a Division 1 school in the Southland Conference, at 6 p.m. in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Tarleton's first home game will be Sept. 10 against Southwest Baptist at 7 p.m.