COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –  The Adams State University Football team is just 24 days away from their 2023 season—and home—opener against new NCAA Division II member Lincoln (Calif.) inside Rex Stadium. With that, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) announced the 2023 RMAC Football Coaches Preseason Poll on Wednesday morning. The Grizzlies garnered 21 points and were picked to finish in ninth place.

The poll follows the final 2022 standings as the Grizzlies finished last season with a 2-7 record that included a huge win over Colorado Mesa and several games that the Grizzlies dropped even though being in the game in the final quarter. Coach Jarrell Harrison enters the 2023 campaign for his third full year at the helm.

Mines leads the way with nine first-place votes and 81 points after a historic season in 2022, where they made a berth in the NCAA Division II Championship. The Orediggers will be led into action behind first-year head coach Pete Sterbick, who looks to lead another Mines program that has consistently produced success in recent years.

Colorado State University Pueblo checks in at No. 2 in RMAC preseason voting with 71 points behind first-year head coach Philip Vigil. The ThunderWolves earned a postseason berth in 2022 and reloaded ahead of the 2023 campaign with plenty of offensive and defensive weapons. Western Colorado rounds out the top-three positions with 62 points and one first-place vote. The Mountaineers are seasoned and poised to make another run at a conference title after earning a share in 2021.

South Dakota Mines occupies fourth place in the poll after earning 53 points in preseason voting, while Black Hills State sits fifth with 49 points. Colorado Mesa checks in at sixth place with 48. Meanwhile, Chadron State resides in seventh place with 33 points.

New Mexico Highlands was selected eighth in preseason voting with 23 points, followed by Adams State with 21 points and Fort Lewis with nine points.