Weber State football ranked No. 7 in preseason FCS poll

June 25, 4:59 PMUtah Sports ExaminerBrian Shaw

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WSU Athletics 

It’s been awhile since head coach Ron McBride has basked in such rarified air (there were days back at Utah where he could at least claim some semblance of success) but the guy is now bathing in W’s since he donned the Wildcat purple and brought them back from the brink of disaster.

Now he finally gets the recognition he deserves as his ‘Cats are ranked No. 7 in the preseason FCS poll released this week, only two spots behind Montana. Weber also received one first-place vote.

McBride’s formula for success is simple enough, in theory, anyway: Use the same Polynesian football pipeline as he did at Utah, coax some hard-working kids and some academic qualifiers to come a little further up north than originally planned and put a team together.

Then recruit some older, but altogether wiser former coaches to put on their caps and trudge out to the field (again!) and live in the moment, you know, the one they thought they'd never have again being put out to pasture by their fomer respective teams.

Gaining respect is exactly what Weber has done since McBride arrived, transforming itself from the team everybody laughed at, to a team nobody wants to play. Ask Hawaii how excited they were when Weber nearly upset the team one year removed from a Sugar Bowl invite.

And that No. 7 ranking Weber got all but solidifies what many thought when McBride was unceremoniously booted at Utah, which fortunately turned out well for the Utes.

It also has seemed to turn out well for McBride, who now has the Wildcats on the cusp of glory. Keeping in step with the No. 7, Weber also had seven players named to the preseason All-America team. Center Kyle Mutcher was named to the first team offense. Running back Trevyn Smith was placed on the second team offense, while Cameron Higgins, Tim Toone, Cody Nakamura, Kevin Linehan and Josh Morris were honorable mention.

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