WACO, Texas – The West Alabama football team will enter the 2022 season receiving votes in the preseason American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Poll that was released on Monday.
The Tigers collected three votes after finishing the 2021 season with seven wins and were ranked as high as 10th in the AFCA Poll.
The Gulf South Conference was well represented in the poll with Valdosta State coming in third, West Florida at 11th and West Georgia checking in 12th. Delta State was also receiving votes in the national poll with five votes.
UWA started last season 6-0 for the first time in program history. Darius Nalls, Michael Anderson and Shamar Lewis were named to the All-GSC Preseason Team as UWA was tabbed fourth in the Preseason Poll.
Head coach Brett Gilliland enters his ninth season guiding his alma mater and recently eclipsed 50 career victories at UWA following the 38-20 victory over West Georgia on Oct. 2 last year.
The 2022 season begins at Morehouse on Sep. 3 in Atlanta. Following another road trip just down the road to Birmingham the next weekend on Sep. 10 at Miles College, the Tigers will have their home opener on Sep. 17 against Tuskegee starting at 2 p.m. at Tiger Stadium.
| Rank |
School (1st votes) |
2021 Rec. |
Pts. |
2021 Rank |
Season Opener |
Head Coach |
| 1 |
Ferris St. (Mich.) (30) |
14-0 |
750 |
1 |
Sept. 1 vs. Central Washington |
Tony Annese |
| 2 |
Northwest Missouri St. |
11-2 |
661 |
4 |
Sept. 1 vs. Fort Hays St. (Kan.) |
Rich Wright |
| 3 |
Valdosta St. (Ga.) |
12-2 |
656 |
2 |
Sept. 1 vs. Keiser (Fla.) |
Tremaine Jackson |
| 4 |
Colorado School of Mines |
12-2 |
654 |
3 |
Sept. 1 at No. 5 Grand Valley St. (Mich.) |
Brandon Moore |
| 5 |
Grand Valley St. (Mich.) |
10-2 |
596 |
7 |
Sept. 1 vs. No. 4 Colorado School of Mines |
Matt Mitchell |
| 6 |
Shepherd (W.Va.) |
13-2 |
550 |
5 |
Sept. 1 at Southern Connecticut St. |
Ernie McCook |
| 7 |
Angelo St. (Tex.) |
11-3 |
494 |
11 |
Sept. 1 vs. Chadron St. (Neb.) |
Jeff Girsch |
| 8 |
Bowie St. (Md.) |
12-2 |
479 |
6 |
Sept. 3 vs. No. 20 New Haven (Conn.) |
Kyle Jackson |
| 9 |
Harding (Ark.) |
11-2 |
467 |
10 |
Sept. 1 at East Central (Okla.) |
Paul Simmons |
| 10 |
Notre Dame (Ohio) |
11-2 |
465 |
9 |
Sept. 1 at Ashland (Ohio) |
Garrett Mack |
| 11 |
West Florida |
9-2 |
452 |
12 |
Sept. 3 vs. Warner (Fla.) |
Pete Shinnick |
| 12 |
West Georgia |
9-3 |
373 |
13 |
Sept. 1 vs. Carson-Newman (Tenn.) |
David Dean |
| 13 |
Kutztown (Pa.) |
11-2 |
359 |
8 |
Sept. 3 at Assumption (Mass.) |
Jim Clements |
| 14 |
Nebraska-Kearney |
10-3 |
318 |
15 |
Sept. 1 at Missouri Southern |
Josh Lynn |
| 15 |
Newberry (S.C.) |
10-3 |
250 |
17 |
Sept. 3 vs. Allen (S.C.) |
Todd Knight |
| 16 |
New Haven (Conn.) |
10-2 |
243 |
14 |
Sept. 3 at No. 11 Bowie St. (Md.) |
Chris Pincince |
| 17 |
Western Colorado |
10-2 |
226 |
16 |
Sept. 3 at West Texas A&M |
Jas Bains |
| 18 |
Albany St. (Ga.) |
10-2 |
160 |
18 |
Sept. 3 vs. Mississippi College |
Gabe Giardina |
| 19t. |
Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) |
8-3 |
154 |
NR |
Sept. 3 vs. Virginia St. |
Mike Jacobs |
| 19t. |
Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) |
9-2 |
154 |
23 |
Sept. 1 at Oklahoma Baptist |
Todd Knight |
| 21 |
California (Pa.) |
9-1 |
143 |
21 |
Sept. 1 vs. Fairmont St. (W.Va.) |
Gary Dunn |
| 22 |
Bemidji St. (Minn.) |
10-3 |
137 |
19 |
Sept. 1 vs. Minnesota St. |
Brent Bolte |
| 23 |
Slippery Rock (Pa.) |
9-3 |
131 |
20 |
Sept. 3 vs. Wayne St. (Mich.) |
Shawn Lutz |
| 24 |
Midwestern St. (Tex.) |
7-3 |
112 |
NR |
Sept. 3 vs. Colorado St.-Pueblo |
Bill Maskill |
| 25 |
Augustana (S.D.) |
9-3 |
99 |
NR |
Sept. 1 at Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.) |
Jerry Olszewski |
Others Receiving Votes: Frostburg St. (Md.), 97; Indiana (Pa.), 79; Indianapolis (Ind.), 65; Washburn (Kan.), 59; Findlay (Ohio), 52; Pittsburg St. (Kan.), 46; Tiffin (Ohio), 34; Minnesota-Duluth, 32; Henderson St. (Ark.), 31; Central Washington, 25; Bentley (Mass.), 24; Minnesota St., 23; Ashland (Ohio), 22; West Texas A&M, 15; Saginaw Valley St. (Mich.), 14; Truman St. (Mo.), 13; Colorado St.-Pueblo, 7; Southeastern Oklahoma St., 7; Delta St. (Miss.), 5; Ohio Dominican, 4; Virginia Union, 4; West Alabama, 3; Shaw (N.C.), 2; Chadron St. (Neb.), 1; Colorado Mesa, 1; UT-Permian Basin (Texas), 1; West Chester (Pa.), 1.
To stay connected with the UWA football team, follow @UWA_football on Instagram and Twitter. General athletic news, along with game recaps and box scores, can be found at uwaathletics.com. Additional updates and information are available @UWAAthletics on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
