LANCASTER, PA – Johns Hopkins earned 17 of 20 first-place votes and grabbed 159 points to earn the top spot in the 2016 Centennial Conference Preseason Football Poll of head coaches and sports information directors. The poll was announced at Kickoff '16, the Centennial Conference's annual media day on the campus of Franklin & Marshall College.

Johns Hopkins earned the top spot in the poll for the eighth straight year and the 11th time since 2004. The Blue Jays went on to win the Centennial title in nine of the previous 10 years in which it topped the preseason poll, including each of the last seven years.

Muhlenberg picked up two first-place votes and totaled 144 points to finish second in the poll, while Moravian (132 points), Franklin & Marshall (99) and Gettysburg (91) round out the top five. Susquehanna (85), Ursinus (74), Dickinson (52), Juniata (46) and McDaniel (18), ranked sixth through 10th. F&M also picked up one first-place vote.

The Blue Jays have won seven straight Centennial Conference titles, including outright championships in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 and a shared title in 2010. In all, Johns Hopkins has won a league-record 11 CC championships since claiming its first title in 2002.

Head coach Jim Margraff welcomes back 14 starters from last season's team, which spent the entire season ranked in the top 10 in the nation in the AFCA Poll and the top 15 in the D3football.com Poll. The Blue Jays have been ranked by the AFCA for 50 consecutive weeks and 49 consecutive weeks by D3football.com.

Headlining Margraff's returning starters are nine players who earned All-Centennial Conference honors last season, including four on offense and five on defense.

Among the six returning starters on offense is senior wide receiver Bradley Munday, who earned Centennial Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors after posting 83 receptions for 1,066 yards and 12 touchdowns last season. He is one half of a dynamic senior receiving tandem as Quinn Donaldson returns for his final season with career totals of 88 receptions for 1,471 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Senior quarterback Jonathan Germano and senior running back Stuart Walters also return after earning Second and First Team All-Centennial honors, respectively, in 2015. Germano threw for 2,963 yards and a school-record 35 touchdown passes against just eight interceptions in his first season as a starter, while Walters rushed for 955 yards and 17 touchdowns as a junior and is one of the top returning running backs in the nation with more than 2,300 career rushing yards and 30 rushing touchdowns to his credit.

Defensively, five All-Centennial Conference performers return for Margraff's Blue Jays, including two defensive linemen, one linebacker and two defensive backs.

The junior duo of Keonte Henson and Lance Hammond returns along the defensive line and they form one of the top tandems in the nation. Henson made the move to the line last season and emerged as a dominant force on his way to earning First Team All-Centennial honors, while Hammond grabbed second team status. They combined for 100 tackles, 14 tackles for losses and seven sacks a year ago.

An area hit hard by graduation was linebacker, where Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Year Keith Corliss and fellow First Team All-Centennial pick Brady Watts must be replaced. The unit will be led by returning Second Team All-Centennial and Second Team CoSIDA Academic All-American Jack Campbell, who led the team in tackles (101) a year ago despite the presence of Corliss and Watts.

Senior all-everything safety Jack Toner returns to headline a secondary that also includes classmate Dan Johnson. Toner, the latest and arguably the best in a long line of standout safeties at Johns Hopkins, posted 51 tackles, nine pass breakups and six interceptions last season en route to earning Second Team D3football.com All-America and Second Team CoSIDA Academic All-America honors. Johnson, who spent two years as a special teams ace, earned Second Team All-Centennial honors in his first season as a starter in 2015 with 61 tackles and four interceptions.

On the special teams front, the kicking chores are in the capable hands of three returning players with extensive experience. Senior Nick Campbell and junior Jamie Sullivan have combined to hit 26-of-36 field goals and 183-of-189 extra points during their careers and sophomore Brandon Hong-Dominguez averaged 35.9 yards per punt a year ago. The return game counts three players who averaged better than 25 yards per kickoff return last season.

Johns Hopkins opens the 2016 season on Thursday, September 1 when the Blue Jays welcome Washington & Lee to Homewood Field. The game between the Blue Jays and Generals is the only Division III game in the nation this season that will feature two teams that posted 10-0 records in the regular season in 2015.

2016 Centennial Conference Preseason Football Poll
Rk. School (1st place votes) – Points (2015 record)
1. Johns Hopkins (17) – 159 (11-1 overall, 9-0 CC)
2. Muhlenberg (2) – 144 (8-3, 7-2)
3. Moravian – 132 (8-3, 7-2)
4. Franklin & Marshall (1) – 99 (6-4, 5-4)
5. Gettysburg – 91 (7-3, 6-3)
6. Susquehanna – 85 (5-5, 4-5)
7. Ursinus – 74 (3-7, 2-7)
8. Dickinson – 52 (3-7, 3-6)
9. Juniata – 46 (3-7, 2-7)
10. McDaniel – 18 (0-10, 0-9)