Coach Jerry Kill’s Salukis, ranked No. 5 in the nation, return 16 of 24 starters from the team that was ranked No. 1 for 12 weeks before losing 35-31 to Eastern Washington in the first round of the Division I-AA playoffs.
The Salukis feature stars with glittering statistics. Quarterback Joel Sambursky, the Gateway Conference offensive player of the year, completed 61 percent of his passes for 204 yards per game in 2004. He’s one of 16 players on the initial watch list for the 19th Walter Payton Award, presented annually by The Sports Network to the top player in I-AA football. Arkee Whitlock averaged 6.4 yards per carry. Brent Little averaged a whopping 23.5 yards per catch. All-American Craig Coffin made all 66 extra points he tried and hit 13 of 15 field-goal tries.
The Salukis averaged 42.6 points per game a year ago and stonewalled opponents with a defense that led the nation with an average yield of only 13.2 points per game.
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Next: Thursday at Southeast Missouri State, 6 p.m.