23 Jul Utah Tech Football Voted Eighth in UAC Preseason Poll; Placed One Player on 2024 Preseason All-UAC Team

(ST. GEORGE, Utah – July 23, 2024) Utah Tech football landed one player on the 2024 United Athletic Conference’s preseason all-conference team, which was announced on Tuesday at the UAC Media Day event at Texas Live! in Arlington.

Redshirt sophomore long snapper Ryan Kean was the lone Trailblazer representative on the preseason all-UAC team list, doing so on special teams.

Last season, Kean (6-2. 210; Corona, Calif./Centennial HS) earned first team all-UAC and Stats Perform Freshman All-America honors after he was near perfect on every special teams snap as the Trailblazers’ primary long snapper.

Utah Tech was voted to finish eighth in the UAC preseason coaches poll, which was also unveiled on Tuesday.

Central Arkansas topped the poll with five first-place votes and 77 total points, followed closely in second by Tarleton State, which collected three first-place nods and 74 points.

Southern Utah was picked to finish third with 54 points, followed by Eastern Kentucky (53 pts) in fourth, defending UAC champion Austin Peay (1 FPV/46 pts) in fifth, Abilene Christian (43 pts) in sixth, North Alabama (26 pts) in seventh, Utah Tech (19 pts), and UAC newcomer West Georgia (13 pts), which begins the first year of its NCAA Division-I transition this season, rounded out the poll in ninth.

Tarleton State senior running back Kayvon Britten was selected at the conference’s preseason offensive player of the year, while North Alabama redshirt junior defensive back Edwin White Schultz was tabbed as the league’s preseason defensive player of the year.

Utah Tech kicks off its fifth season of NCAA D-I FCS play on Saturday, August 31, when the Trailblazers welcome Big Sky Conference power Montana State to Greater Zion Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 8 p.m.