MARSHALL, Texas – Heading into the fourth year under head coach Calvin Ruzicka, East Texas Baptist University has been picked to finish fourth in the American Southwest Conference preseason poll. ETBU returns several starters on offense and five All-ASC selections.
 
ETBU received 35 votes for fourth place and is just four points behind McMurry University for third place (39 votes). Mary Hardin-Baylor was second with 64 votes and Hardin-Simmons University in first with 66 votes. Howard Payne came in fifth with 34 votes and Schreiner University in sixth with 14 votes.
 
Paul Woodard, Colton Wilson, and Mitchell White are on the ASC Players to Watch list. Woodard was an All-ASC Second Team selection last year with 937 yards rushing on 143 attempts, averaging 104 .1 yards per carry in nine games played. Wilson, also an All-ASC Second Team selection, had 20 tackles and 5.5 sacks for 37 yards. White made the All-ASC Second Team as a kicker, going 9-of-16 in field goals, with his longest being 45 yards, and had 46 kickoffs with 15 touchbacks, averaging 61 yards per kickoff.
 
ETBU opens its season on September 5 in Arkansas at Lyon College starting at 4:00 p.m.