By Bane Rossi

DALLAS – Coming off a third-place finish in the 2022 campaign, the WKU Hilltoppers are predicted to finish at the top of the Conference USA preseason poll in 2023, league officials announced Friday.

Along with that, six Hilltoppers were named to the Conference USA Football Watch List. Austin Reed, Malachi Corley, and Quantavious Leslie represent WKU offensively while linebacker JaQues Evans constitutes the defensive side of the ball. Tom Ellard was the only Hilltopper special teamer mentioned while Vincent Murphy was recognized academically.

In the preseason poll, the Hilltoppers received 18 of a possible 22 first-place votes from a panel of media members that cover all nine CUSA schools.

Newly joined CUSA member, Liberty, received the remaining four first-place votes and is slotted to finish as the runner up in the preseason poll, followed by Middle Tennessee in the third spot.

Louisiana Tech is picked fourth ahead of New Mexico State, UTEP, and Jacksonville State while FIU and Sam Houston split eighth place.

The full predicted order of finish for Conference USA is below.

1.    WKU (18)
2.    Liberty (4)
3.    MTSU
4.    Louisiana Tech
5.    New Mexico State
6.    UTEP
7.    Jacksonville State
8.    FIU and Sam Houston

Season tickets for the 2023 WKU Football season are still available starting as low as $85. For more information about season tickets, call the WKU Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-5-BIGRED or click here.

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COURTESY WKU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS