JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Hero Sports has ranked Carson-Newman 13th in its preseason poll, giving the Eagles their first preseason ranking since the start of the 2014 season.
Carson-Newman has been ranked in the preseason in one poll or another three out of the last four seasons.
The Eagles find themselves on the outside looking in in the AFCA coaches poll. Carson-Newman received 60 votes in that poll and sits seven spots outside the top 25.
C-N spent the final five weeks of the 2015 campaign ranked in Hero Sports' poll and the final three weeks of the year in the AFCA poll, rising as high as 21st in the final iteration of the poll.
A pair of Carson-Newman opponents factor into both the Hero Sports and AFCA polls. The Eagles' opening-day opponent Humboldt State checks in at seventh in the Hero Sports poll and 13th in the AFCA poll.
Meanwhile, conference mate Catawba, the league's preseason favorite to win the conference crown, is ranked 11th by Hero Sports and 23rd by the AFCA.
C-N opens the season at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1 against Humboldt State in what will be a clash against top 15 programs.