Blinn College on the Hunt for Third NJCAA Football Title in Five Years
Blinn College (Kan.) begins the 2010 NJCAA Football season at No. 1 in the NJCAA Preseason Top 25. The defending national champions will face a very difficult schedule this season. However, a talented roster and a veteran coach gives Blinn a legitimate chance to claim the program’s third national championship in five years (2006, 2009).
Blinn is followed in the preseason rankings by Arizona Western College, Fort Scott Community College (Kan.), who Blinn defeated last season in the NJCAA title game, Navarro College (Texas) and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.
The Buccaneers return eight starters (3 offense / 5 defense) from last season’s championship team and they also welcome a NCAA Division I transfer at the quarterback position in Justin Tuggle (Boston College). Tuggle started three games for the Eagles in 2009. Top returners for Blinn include Honorable Mention All-American and First-Team All-Southwest JC Football Conference linebacker Dextrell Simmons and offensive lineman Sean Robertson who started 10 games in 2009 for the Bucs.
Brad Franchione is back for his sixth season at Blinn. The son of former Alabama, Texas Christian, Texas A&M, and New Mexico head coach Dennis Franchione, Brad has led the Buccaneer program to a 46-10 record, including two NJCAA Football Championships and three SWJCFC titles. He has also twice been named the NJCAA Football Coach of the Year and last season was the American Community College Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year.
Blinn opens the season on Saturday, August 28th against No. 3 Fort Scott (Kan.) in Brenham, Texas, in a rematch of the 2009 NJCAA Football Championship Game at the Citizen’s Bank Bowl. The Bucs won the title on a last second punt-return for a touchdown by Chad Froechnicht to give Blinn a 31-26 victory.
Butler Community College (Kan.), East Mississippi Community College, Snow College (Utah), Ellsworth Community College (Iowa) and Grand Rapids Community College (Mich.) round out the preseason Top 10.
Courtesy: AFCA
