Eddie Delaney leads a group of eight UAlbany Great Danes selected to the All-NEC football preseason team by Phil Steele's publication.

A 6-foot-6, senior defensive end, Delaney (right) earned second-team all-conference honors for the second time last season. Delaney totaled 41 tackles and helped the Great Danes rank second in the conference against the run.

Also honored on the preseason first team were wide receiver Ryan Kirchner, safety Jake Ciccarello and punter Paul Layton, a graduate of Burnt Hills.

Kicker Herb Glass, running back Dillon Romain and insider linebackers Dave Plungas and Jon Morgan were picked to the second team.

The Great Danes were chosen to win the 2011 Northeast Conference by Athlon Sports and selected to finish third in The Sporting News and Lindy's Sport Annuals.

UAlbany. which has posted a school record five consecutive winning seasons, begins preseason camp on Monday, Aug. 8 and the Great Danes open the season Saturday, Sept. 3, at Colgate.

ALBANY - I'll admit that was a pretty bad use of the first opponents name in the headline.

The University at Albany football team is getting ready to kick off the 2010 season against Maine on Thursday evening.

I caught the tail end of practice on Tuesday and heard a couple of rave reviews about redshirt freshman running back Tramaine Wilson.

Wilson supposedly has had a great preseason camp and will help carry the load at the running back position.

UAlbany coach Bob Ford said that he thinks Wilson will play quite a bit.

The Great Danes lost a lot of players from last season, but Ford thinks they can plug the gaps.

“What you hope is that you replace him, or those specific kids, with an adequate replacement and then some of the other positions step it up a little more,” he said.

Ford was asked who he thought had most some big steps during the preseason camp, leading up to the season and he added in no particular order.

Wilson
Junior safety Jake Ciccarello
Senior captain offensive lineman Andy Sparano
Sophomore wide receiver Nick Hutcherson
Sophomore linebacker Jon Morgan
Redshirt freshman punter Paul Layton

Ford also said they are getting good play from senior defensive linemen Trevor Anderson and Eddie Delaney and they expect that from those two.

"We have the talent," Ford said. "I think the major question is how are we going to gel."

Another note from UAlbany camp. Former player Chris Simpson, who played last season at linebacker, is going after a Rhodes scholarship.

Simpson has one year left at RPI, after setting out for a 3 & 2 program with UAlbany and RPI, to get his undergraduate degree and his master's.

The team leaves for Maine at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

Look for our preview pages in The Record and a feature on the versatile Andrew Smith on Thursday.