CSJ Conference Preview: American Athletic Conference
College Sports Journal announces their 2018 Fearless Prediction for the Order of finish of the American Athletic Conference (AAC), the fifth and final of our Group of Five Conference previews.
The American Athletic Conference is the top Group of 5 league currently and with the talent back, that likely will stay that way through this season.
UCF was the lone undefeated team not only in the Group of Five but also all of Division I football last year. And even though the Knights lost Scott Frost as their coach, new headman Josh Heupel has the tool to retain a high level.
UCF will face some contention from rival South Florida and possibly Temple in the East Division but the odds are high that UCF will again with the division.
In the West Division, Memphis was the winner last year and actually gave UCF its toughest game. The Tigers return much of the team last year and are the favorites in this division. Memphis looks like its toughest competition will come from Houston and Navy.
In the title game for the AAC, it will be a rematch in our projections and UCF will defeat the Tigers again.
For information and details on each school’s prospects for 2018, click on the links below.
East Division
West Division
2018 Preseason CSJ All-American Athletic Offense
QB – McKenzie Milton, Jr. UCF
QB – Malcom Perry, Jr. Navy
RB – Darrell Henderson, Jr. Memphis
WR – Trevon Brown, Sr. East Carolina
WR – Tyre McCants, Sr. USF
TE – Joey Magnifico, Jr. Memphis
OL – Jordan Johnson, Jr. UCF
OL – Chandler Miller, Sr. Tulsa
OL – Wyatt Miller, Sr. UCF
OL – Marcus Norman, Jr. USF
OL – Trevon Tate, Sr. Memphis
2018 Preseason CSJ All-American Athletic Defense
DE – Jerard Carter, Sr. Houston
DT – Trysten Hill, Jr. UCF
DT – Ed Oliver, Jr. Houston
DE – Greg Reaves, Jr. USF
LB – Curtis Akins, Sr. Memphis
LB – Shaun Bradley, Jr. Temple
LB – Chapelle Russell, Jr. Temple
CB – Donnie Lewis, Sr. Tulane
S – Kyle Gibson, Sr. UCF
S – Delvon Randall, Sr. Temple
CB – Jordan Wyatt, Sr. SMU
2018 Preseason CSJ All-American Athletic Special Teams
PK – Caden Novikoff, Sr.
P – James Smith, Soph. Cincinnati
KR – Tony Pollard, Jr. Memphis
PR – Isaiah Wright, Jr. Temple
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football is the Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
Reach him at this email or click below:
