July 17, 1997
GREENVILLE -- The Sporting News College Football 1997 Magazine has picked the Furman University Paladins ninth in its pre-season NCAA I-AA national poll.
Furman, which finished ranked ninth in 1996 following a 9-4 season and quarterfinal finish in the NCAA I-AA playoffs, was one of four Southern Conference schools picked by the Sporting News to its pre-season Top 25. East Tennessee State (7th), Georgia Southern (14th), and Appalachian State (21st) joined Furman in the pre-season poll.
The annual publication also named Furman senior defensive end Bryan Dailer as the Southern Conference's pre-season defensive player-of-the-year. Dailer, a 6-foot-3, 221-pound product of Winter Garden, Fla., racked up 95 tackles a league leading 14 sacks in 1996. He was joined on the pre-season all-conference team by Paladin defensive tackle Phil Warren (Tarpon Springs, Fla.), linebackers Orlando Ruff (Winnsboro, S.C.) and Jay Thier (Columbia, S.C.), and free safety Jeremy Osborne (Kingsport, Tenn.).
Furman, which returns 15 starters, opens its 1997 season on Sept. 4 against Samford in Brimingham, Ala.