Football Monarchs Picked Second in Preseason Poll

July 25, 2012

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BALTIMORE, Md. -- The Old Dominion Football Monarchs were picked to finish second in the 2012 Colonial Athletic Association preseason poll and five Monarchs landed on the Preseason All-CAA Team it was announced today at the conference's media day at M&T Bank Stadium.

Honored with Preseason All-CAA honors were wide receiver Nick Mayers (Va. Beach, Va.), punter Jonathan Plisco (Newport News, Va.), linebacker Craig Wilkins (Washington, D.C.), defensive tackle Chris Burnette (Baltimore, Md.), and quarterback Taylor Heinicke (Atlanta, Ga.).

Towson was picked to repeat as CAA champions with 12 first-place votes, followed by Old Dominion with seven first-place votes. Third went to James Madison, and fourth to New Hampshire, who both received first-place votes. Delaware was selected fifth followed by Maine in sixth and William & Mary in seventh. Villanova was selected eighth, with Richmond in ninth, Rhode Island in 10th, and CAA newcomer Georgia State rounding out the poll in 11th.

Nick Mayers:
Mayers eamed First Team All-CAA last season as he led the receiving corps with 62 catches for 698 yards and seven touchdowns. He averaged 11.3 yards per catch and 58.2 receiving yards per game to rank sixth in the CAA and averaged 5.17 receptions per game to rank third in the league. Through ODU's 32 total games played, Mayers has registered 100 or more yards of receiving six times, which included a career-high and school record 166 yards receiving against CAA champion Towson. Mayers also caught a season-high nine passes for 101 yards in the regular season finale at William & Mary, made eight catches at Rhode Island, and had six receptions against #20 UMass and Norfolk State in the first round of the FCS playoffs.

Jonathan Plisco:
In all, the Monarch punter has earned nine All-America honors in his three-year career with Old Dominion, which included First Team All-America accolades by Beyond College Sports Network, Second Team All-America honors from College Sports Madness, The Sports Network the Associated Press, and Phil Steele and an All-American nod by College Sports Journal last season. Additionally, Plisco was named First Team All-State by The Roanoke Times and First Team All-CAA as he led the CAA and ranked second in the nation in punting averaging 46.2 yards per punt. Of his 51 punts last year, 20 went the distance of 50 yards or more and 12 were placed inside the opponent 20. Plisco has already been named among the Top 10 Special Teams Players to Watch this Fall and a Preseason All-American by The Sports Network.

Craig Wilkins:
A stalwart of the Monarch defense, linebacker Wilkins was named First Team All-CAA and First Team All-State by The Roanoke Times as he collected 111 tackles (58 solo, 38 assisted), including 14.5 tackles for loss to lead the ODU defense. Wilkins became the first Monarch to record over 100 tackles in a season and posted double figure stops in four games including a career-high 17 tackles against Hampton. The senior co-captain also made 13 tackles against Towson and 11 tackles against #10 James Madison and Richmond. Wilkins also added 3.5 sacks, a pair of interceptions, three pass break-ups, five defended passes, a fumble recovery, and a forced fumble last season and blocked a James Madison field goal as time expired to preserve ODU's 23-20 win over the Dukes and the Monarchs' first win over a top-10 program. Averaging 8.5 tackles per game, Wilkins ranked 12th in the league in the category.

Chris Burnette:
A Third Team All-CAA selection a year ago, defensive tackle Burnette continued his roll as one of the top members of the defense starting all 13 games at nose guard and totaling 49 tackles (20 solo, 29 assisted). Burnette had a career-high eight stops in the inaugural CAA game in week four with #6/7 Delaware and also made five stops in week one against Campbell and week seven against CAA Champion #17/23 Towson. A senior co-captain this season, Burnette was third on the squad in tackles for loss making eight for a loss of 24 yards. He had a pair of tackles for a loss of eight yards in week eight against #9/10 James Madison, ODU's first-ever top-10 victory and also had a pair of TFL's at William & Mary. Burnette was also among the leaders in sacks with 3.5 for a loss of 14 yards On special teams, he helped ODU rank number one in the nation in blocks with three and has totaled five blocked kicks in his career including a 37-yard field goal attempt by Norfolk State in the first round of the FCS Playoffs, a 35-yard field goal attempt by William & Mary in week ten and a 37-yard field goal attempt at #6/7 Delaware in week four.

Taylor Heinicke
Heinicke begins his second season not only a preseason honoree on the All-CAA squad, but as one of 20 student-athletes named to the Walter Payton Award List Watch List for the Football Championship Subdivision's (FCS) top individual honor. As a true freshman, Heinicke was the College Football Performance Awards National Performer of the Year, CFPA Freshman Performer of the Year and winner of the CFPA Quarterback Award and Runner-up for the Jerry Rice Award by The Sports Network, awarded to the National Freshman of the Year He was named to the Sports Journal All-Freshman Team as well as a Third Team All-CAA honoree, two-time National Freshman of the Week by The Sports Network and three-time CAA Rookie of the Week. Heinicke took over quarterback duties for the Monarchs in the second half of ODU's Oct. 1st contest with #20 UMass and finished out the 2011 campaign completing 211 of his 307 passes with 25 touchdowns with just one interception, a hail mary pass at the end of ODU's contest with Towson. In playoff action, the true freshman signal caller set school records with five touchdown passes in games against both Norfolk State and #3/2 Georgia Southern and averaged 307.5 yards passing in the post-season. Although Heinicke's name does not appear in the conference or national stats having not played in the minimum 75% of games played to qualify, if his name did appear, his 265 passing yards per game would have ranked 18th nationally, his 160.2 pass efficiency rating would place him fifth nationally, and his 305.3 yards of total offense per contest would put his name 10th nationally.