Even with new QB, Salukis rate in top 20

~ But the defending Gateway Conference champs were fourth in the preseason poll for the eight-team league.

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- No one could blame Southern Illinois coach Jerry Kill if he feels a bit anxious about the coming season for the reigning three-time Gateway Conference champs.

The Salukis won't have all-everything quarterback Joel Sambursky, a three-time team captain who, in starting 49 games in a row, notched virtually every major Salukis career passing mark. Sambursky is among 15 starters -- nine of them on defense -- that Southern lost after last season, when its bid for a Division I-AA title ended with a quarterfinal loss to eventual national champ Appalachian State.

But Kill says he's pressing on, reloading with a younger lineup for a Saluki team tapped by the league's coaches, media and sports information directors to finish fourth in the eight-team Gateway. Southern is ranked No. 17 by the Sports Network heading into its season opener Aug. 31 against visiting Lock Haven, Pa., of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

So how good will or could the Salukis be? For now, Kill isn't sure.

"I can't answer those questions until we get into the heart of the league," he said recently. "If we can stay healthy, I feel we'll be in the mix."

His bottom line: "We're looking for depth right now," including on a defensive unit that has just two starters back, neither of them on the line.

Sambursky had been the face of the Salukis for four years, guiding them last season to the school's first postseason win in more than two decades. But Kill believes he has players to build around, including Sambursky's successor -- left-handed junior Nick Hill -- and Arkee Whitlock, whose 1,454 rushing yards last season as a junior put him fifth on the school's all-time list.

Hill says he's ready to go and doesn't feel any pressure, his confidence buoyed by having an offensive line that returns four starters.

"I'm really comfortable with the offense, and things are coming easy to me," said Hill, who transferred to Southern in 2004 from Western Kentucky, where he played basketball.

"I learned a lot from Joel, but I can't go out there and beat him," said Hill, who in relief last season completed 15 of 20 passes for 288 yards and three touchdowns, as well as gaining 102 yards on nine carries. "The bottom line is that he's a winner, and that's the thing I want to keep carrying on."

Southern's depth chart at quarterback also includes Justin Allen, a transfer from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M who Kill says covers 40 yards in 4.4.

"We're very pleased with where we are at quarterback," Kill said. "We're athletic there."

The same appears true at running back, where Whitlock is likely to get some backfield help from John Randle, who sat out last season after being dismissed from Kansas' team in March 2005. He had been charged with hitting a man outside a bar in Lawrence, Kan.

Randle was the Jayhawks' top rusher in 2004 -- 540 yards -- and caught 35 passes for 274 yards, along the way notching a team-high nine touchdowns and 1,065 all-purpose yards.