Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Football selects team captains
08/27/2010 | 12:00:00 | Football
Aug. 27, 2010
By Jason Clay
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Head football coach Dale Lennon has selected Southern Illinois' team captains for the 2010 season.
Four seniors - quarterback Chris Dieker, wide receiver Joe Allaria, linebacker Stephen Franklin and safety Mike McElroy - were named captains prior to the team's final scrimmage of fall camp on Thursday night.
Between the four, they have combined to play in 136 games, have 61 starts and led SIU to a 32-7 record over the course of their first three seasons.
Dieker enters 2010 for his third year as SIU's starting quarterback. He has compiled a 15-4 record as a starter and ranks in the Top 10 on many of the school's passing record lists.
For Franklin, this will be his first year as a starter, but he is one of just four Salukis that have played in every single game over the last three seasons.
McElroy, a preseason candidate for the Buck Buchanan Award and nominee for the AFCA Good Works Team, tied for fourth in the nation in interceptions last year with seven and is the team's leading returning tackler.
Allaria, a 2009 Second Team All-MVFC selection, ranks No. 15 on the SIU record list with 80 career receptions. He was selected to the 2010 MVFC Preseason Team on Aug. 5 and enters the year having caught a pass in 20-straight games.
The Saluki captains look to lead Southern Illinois to its third-straight MVFC Championship and back into the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season. SIU opens up its 2010 campaign on Thursday, Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. against Quincy in the inaugural game in Saluki Stadium.
