EMCC Lions garner No. 1 preseason ranking in College Football America 2017 Yearbook

SCOOBA – With the kickoff to the junior college football season just three weeks away, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College have garnered a No. 1 preseason team ranking in the College Football America 2017 Yearbook Juco Top 30.

Having considered all 134 of the nation's two-year schools that feature football programs, the College Football America 2017 Yearbook took into account the 65 junior colleges affiliated with the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) that compete in football as well as the 69 competing members of the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA).

Following top-ranked East Mississippi, College Football America rated Butte College second nationally ahead of reigning NJCAA champion Garden City (Kan.) Community College at No. 3.  The City College of San Francisco and Mt. San Antonio College rounded out the publication's Top 5 at fourth and fifth, respectively.      

Also representing the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) in the College Football America 2017 Yearbook Preseason Juco Top 30 are 2016 state runner-up Northwest Mississippi (#8), Holmes (#17) and Northeast Mississippi (#18).

Guided by 10^th-year head football coach Buddy Stephens, the 2017 EMCC Lions will kick off the upcoming football season with consecutive home contests against perennial MACJC South Division powers Jones County (Aug. 31) and Mississippi Gulf Coast (Sept. 7).  A year ago, East Mississippi closed out the 2016 campaign with an 11-game winning streak on the way to capturing the program's fifth state football title in eight years.          

The College Football America 2017 Yearbook features more than 930 college football teams from the United States and Canada, including every team from the NCAA (FBS, FCS, Division II and Division III), NAIA, NJCAA, CCCAA and U Sports (Canada).  The print edition is available online via Amazon.com and through other major retailers, such as Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million.  Additionally, an iBooks version for iPads and iPhones is available through Apple's iTunes bookstore and the iBooks app.  New this year, a Kindle version of the book is also available.  

Earlier this summer, the reigning MACJC state champion EMCC Lions were tabbed as the preseason's No. 2 junior college football team in the JCGridiron.com Dirty 30 Preseason Rankings along with collecting a No. 3 preseason national ranking by Street & Smith's 2017 College Football Preview magazine.  Both preseason polls also considered all NJCAA and CCCAA football programs.