Abilene Christian's Clark, Moore earn WAC honors; Wildcats picked second in league poll
Sweetwater grad Kobe Clark joined offensive lineman Reese Moore as Abilene Christian’s only selections on the Western Athletic Conference preseason football team, which was announced Monday.
Clark, a 5-foot-11 senior receiver, has 205 career receptions and needs just 30 more to tie Abilene High grad and former ACU player Jerale Badon for the school record. Badon is a first-year assistant with the Wildcats.
Moore, a 6-6, 273-pound Seminole sophomore, played all 11 games for a Wildcats team that ran for 18 touchdowns and more than 1,800 yards. Moore was a unanimous selection.
Tarleton State had five players named to the team, including a pair of first-team offensive linemen in senior Kendall Dearth and junior Blake Haynes.
Senior defensive lineman Javier Duran, junior linebacker D.J. Harris and senior defensive back Donovan Banks also were selected to the team.
Sam Houston went unbeaten in 2021 before losing to national runnerup Montana State in the second round of the FCS playoffs.
Stephen F. Austin senior receiver Xavier Gipson is the league’s unanimous preseason offensive player of the year, while Sam Houston State senior defensive lineman Markel Perry is the preseason defensive player of the year.
SFA kicker Chris Campos, a sophomore kicker, is the preseason special teams player.
The league’s six head coaches selected teams and could not vote for their own players.
Wildcats picked second in WAC
ACU is picked to finish second behind SFA in the WAC’s preseason football coaches’ poll.
SFA received all four first-place votes and 16 points overall. ACU had 12 points, followed by Tarleton (10), Southern Utah (7) and Utah Tech (5).
While Sam Houston will play its final season in the WAC this year, the Bearkats are transitioning to the FBS and are not eligible for the conference title.
Tarleton and Utah Tech, formerly Dixie State, also are ineligible for the postseason as both begin their third year of transition to full Division I-FCS status.
This is Southern Utah’s first season in the WAC after 10 seasons in the Big Sky Conference.
Lamar also returned to the Southland Conference after one season in the WAC, while Incarnate Word, which accepted an invitation to join the WAC in November, announced last month it would stay in the Southland.
Texas-Arlington joined the WAC this season, but the Mavericks don’t play football. Texas-Rio Grande Valley, a WAC member, is expected to field a football team in 2025.
The WAC has continued its alliance with the ASUN Conference, so the two leagues will have one automatic qualifier for the FCS playoffs. Sam Houston won the first alliance title last year, while SFA also received an at-large berth.
ACU and first-year coach Keith Patterson open the season Sept. 1 against Lamar at Wildcat Stadium. The Wildcats open conference play at Utah Tech (Oct. 1).
ACU will play SFA twice – Oct. 8 in a nonconference game in Nacogdoches and Nov. 19 in a conference game in Abilene.
ACU begins fall camp Aug. 1, and the Wildcats’ first practice is the following day.
Tarleton opens the season Sept. 1 against Mississippi State in a nonconference game at Memorial Stadium in Stephenville before going to TCU on Sept. 10. The Texans begin conference play at Southern Utah (Oct. 8).
ACU plays Tarleton on Nov. 5 in Stephenville.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Abilene Christian's Clark, Moore nab WAC preseason football honors
