Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Preseason All-Americans Want Team Success This Year
07/31/2003 | 12:00:00 | Football
July 31, 2003
By Seth Whitehead
SIUSalukis.com
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - All-American status is never anything to sneeze at, even if it's a preseason honor.
The Southern Illinois University football team is fortunate enough to have two such honorees on the 2003 squad in senior running back Muhammad Abdulqaadir and junior safety Alexis Moreland.
Based on their outstanding individual efforts in 2002, the pair have brought positive recognition to the program, in addition to becoming team spokesmen. Each player made the trip to St. Louis Thursday for Gateway Media Day.
The honors and hype are nice, but both players agree: It's time to focus on 2003 -- primarily on posting SIU's first winning season since 1991.
"I think we can win this year,'' Moreland said. "That's what's driving me. It's not the All-American stuff. We return eight starters on defense, six on offense, two great running backs and the coaches have good recruits coming in.''
Abdulqaadir agrees, and was even willing to throw out some numbers.
"I expect to be at least 5-0 going into conference,'' Abdulqaadir said. "I expect to win those first five games.''
And the Gateway Conference should take note. After missing the final three games of 2002 with a broken thumb, Abdulqaadir is chomping at the bit to get back on the field.
"I feel good,'' Abdulqaadir said. "I'm ready to play. I'm ready for the season to start today.''
Despite Abdulqaadir and Moreland's fine seasons a year ago, injuries snuffed out the momentum of a 4-3 start for SIU, as the Salukis finished the season with a 0-5 slide.
"That's one of the problems we had last year -- depth,'' Abdulqaadir said. "It makes us a lot more hungry. We had a good team but our record didn't show that. That makes us a little frustrated.''
