Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina is ranked 19th in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) FCS Preseason Coaches' Poll announced on Monday morning.
 
As posted when the media tabulations were released on Aug. 5, the last time WCU carried a preseason national ranking into its season opener came back in 1994 when the then 17th-ranked Catamounts hosted Lenoir-Rhyne. Earlier this summer, WCU was ranked 16th in the HERO Sports polling while Craig Haley slated the Catamounts No. 23 in his early-summer balloting. The Catamounts were ranked 20th in the Preseason Stats Perform FCS Top 25.
 
WCU climbed as high as No. 8 in last year's Stats Perform FCS poll before finishing the year at No. 23, while the ascent in the coaches poll was slower with WCU reaching its highest ranking at No. 14 in early-to-mid October. The Catamounts were not ranked in the final AFCA Coaches Poll.
 
Western Carolina is among three Southern Conference teams to earn preseason Top 25 in the coach rankings, joined by Chattanooga (8th) and Furman (9th). Both Mercer and Samford appeared in the 'others receiving votes' designation. Two of WCU's three nonconference FCS opponents also graced the first AFCA votes with 2023 national runner-up Montana ranked third and Elon receiving votes.
 
Reigning national champion South Dakota State tops the poll after receiving 25 of a possible 26 first-place votes, followed by North Dakota State, Montana, Montana State, and South Dakota rounding out the top five.
 
WCU completed its 12th preseason practice on Monday morning, working out in full pads following Sunday's team photo day and a third helmet-only session coming on the heels of last Saturday's scrimmage. Workouts are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday before an off-day Thursday. Friday's session is scheduled for helmets-only before the team's second scrimmage next Saturday, Aug. 17, with an updated 1:00 pm start time.

 Catamount head football coach Kerwin Bell will join WCU's three other fall sports head coaches – Karen Glover (VB), Chad Miller (WSOC), and Jesse Norman (XC) - for the 2024 Catamount Fall Sports Preview Facebook LIVE event, on-location from Catamount Jaxe (114 Market St.) in Cullowhee on Wednesday, Aug. 14. Fans can see the show on the official Catamount Athletics Facebook page (fb.com/catamountsports) beginning at 6 p.m.

 
AFCA FCS Coaches Poll, presented by Hudl – August 12, 2024
 

Rank	School (1st votes)	2023 Rec.	Pts.	2023 Rank	Season Opener	Head Coach
1	South Dakota St. (25)	15-0	649	1	Aug. 31 at Oklahoma St.	Jimmy Rogers
2	North Dakota St.	11-4	614	3	Aug. 29 at Colorado	Tim Polasek
3	Montana	13-2	576	2	Aug. 31 vs. Missouri St.	Bobby Hauck
4	Montana St.	8-4	518	8	Aug. 24 at New Mexico	Brent Vigen
5	South Dakota	10-3	512	4t	Aug. 29 vs. Northern St.	Bob Nielson
6	Villanova	10-3	502	9	Aug. 29 vs. No. 23 Youngstown St.	Mark Ferrante
7	Idaho	9-4	473	4t	Aug. 31 at Oregon	Jason Eck
8	Chattanooga	8-5	403	17	Aug. 31 at Tennessee	Rusty Wright
9	Furman	10-3	392	6	Aug. 31 at Ole Miss	Clay Hendrix
10	Sacramento St.	8-5	382	15	Aug. 29 at San Jose St.	Andy Thompson
11	Southern Illinois	8-5	370	13	Aug. 31 at BYU	Nick Hill
12	Richmond	9-4	353	22	Aug. 31 at Virginia	Russ Huesman
13	Central Arkansas	7-4	339	NR	Aug. 31 at Arkansas St.	Nathan Brown
14	UAlbany	11-4	275	7	Aug. 31 vs. LIU	Greg Gattuso
15	UIW	9-2	259	14	Aug. 31 vs. Northern Colorado	Clint Killough
16	William & Mary	6-5	196	NR	Aug. 29 vs. VMI	Mike London
17	UC Davis	7-4	164	NR	Aug. 31 at California	Tim Plough
18	Lafayette	9-3	157	19	Aug. 29 at Buffalo	John Troxell
19	Western Carolina	7-4	144	NR	Aug. 29 at NC State	Kerwin Bell
20	Illinois St.	6-5	143	NR	Aug. 31 at Iowa	Brock Spack
21	Tarleton	8-3	137	NR	Aug. 24 vs. McNeese	Todd Whitten
22	North Dakota	7-5	131	16	Aug. 31 at Iowa St.	Bubba Schweigert
23	Youngstown St.	8-5	97	21	Aug. 29 at No. 6 Villanova	Doug Phillips
24	Nicholls	6-5	91	NR	Aug. 31 at Louisiana Tech	Tim Rebowe
25	Florida A&M (1)	12-1	71	10	Aug. 24 vs. Norfolk St.	James Colzie III

 
*– Ranking in final AFCA FCS Coaches Poll of 2023
 
Others Receiving Votes: Weber St., 66; North Carolina Central, 53; Eastern Illinois, 50; UT Martin, 38; Austin Peay, 35; Northern Iowa, 33; Harvard, 32; Yale, 31; Mercer, 27; Holy Cross, 20; Howard, 20; Alabama St., 17; Northern Arizona, 17; Elon, 16; Alcorn St., 9; Duquesne, 7; North Carolina A&T, 6; Fordham, 5; Gardner-Webb, 4; Indiana St., 3; Missouri St., 3; Butler, 2; Eastern Kentucky, 2; Southeast Missouri St., 2; Eastern Washington, 1; Murray St., 1; Samford, 1; Utah Tech, 1. 

2024 Catamount Football Preseason Practice Schedule:
Tues., Aug. 13 – Practice #13 – 8:30 am – 11:00 am (uppers)
Wed., Aug. 14 – Practice #14 – 8:30 am – 11:00 am (full pads)
Thurs., Aug. 15 – No Practice (Off Day)
Fri., Aug. 16 – Practice #15 – 8:30 am – 11:00 am (helmets)
Sat., Aug. 17 – Scrimmage #2 (Practice #16) – Updated 1:00 pm (full pads)
Sun., Aug. 18 – No Practice – Team Building
Mon., Aug. 19 – First Day of Fall Classes at WCU
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount football and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (FB.com/CatamountSports, FB.com/WesternCarolinaFootball), Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountsFB), and Instagram (wcu_catamounts, catamountsfb).

Important Dates in Catamount Athletics & Catamount Football:
Wed., Aug. 14 – Catamount Fall Sports Preview, Facebook LIVE from Catamount Jaxe – (6 pm)
Fri., Aug. 16 – WCU New Student Convocation (Ramsey Center, 5 pm)
Sun., Aug. 18 – Catamount Women's Soccer Home-Opener – vs. UNC Asheville (7 pm)
Mon., Aug. 19 – First day of classes for the fall semester – Cullowhee
Fri., Aug. 23 – Catamount Volleyball Exhibition – vs. Gardner-Webb (Ramsey, 6 pm)
Thurs., Aug. 29 – 2024 Catamount Football season-opener at NC State (Raleigh, 7 pm)
Fri., Sept. 6 – The Bob Waters Memorial – Sequoyah National Golf Club (Cherokee, N.C.)
Sat., Sept. 7 – 2024 Catamount Football home-opener, vs. Campbell (1 pm, updated)