CHARLOTTE – Gardner-Webb was picked fourth in the 2014 preseason Big South Conference Football poll announced Thursday during the league's annual media day at the Charlotte Marriott City Center.

The Runnin' Bulldogs finished just seven votes behind Charleston Southern and 26 votes in front of newcomer Monmouth.

Defending champion and preseason top-25 squad Coastal Carolina was picked to win the league again in 2014, garnering 14 of the 18 possible first-place votes. Liberty earned a second-place projection with a 27-vote advantage over Charleston Southern in the poll – which combined voting of the league's six head coaches and 12 select members of the media pool that regularly covers the Big South Conference.

Gardner-Webb welcomes back 16 starters on offense and defense from a team that finished with a solid 7-5 mark last season – the first for head coach Carroll McCray. GWU won its final two Big South Conference games of the season, handling then No. 12 Charleston Southern, 27-10, at home and stifling Presbyterian on the road in the season finale.

The win over CSU was one of three for last season's Runnin' Bulldogs against teams ranked in the top-25. September wins in consecutive weeks over No. 11 Richmond (12-10) and No. 8 Wofford (3-0) vaulted Gardner-Webb into the national polls for the first time since the 2003 season.

The Runnin' Bulldogs are blessed with plenty of star power in 2014, with receiver Kenny Cook (Cross Hill, S.C. / Clinton HS), nose guard O.J. Lei'ataua Mau (Masefau, American Samoa / Fagaitua HS) and linebacker Tanner Burch (Savannah, Ga. / Savannah Christian Prep) each earning a spot on The Sports Network's preseason FCS All-America Team in early July.

Cook is also the first Gardner-Webb student-athlete to make an appearance on the prestigious Walter Payton Award Watch List, awarded annually to the top offensive player in the FCS. Mau is the second GWU lineman in as many years to appear on the Buck Buchanan Award Watch List – given to the top defensive player in the subdivision.

Gardner-Webb has a league-best seven men listed on positional watch lists released by College Football Performance Awards in 2014. Burch and running mate Chad Geter (Irmo, S.C. / Dutch Fork HS) each appeared on the FCS Linebacker of the Year Watch List. Cook (receiver) and Mau (defensive line) were represented as well.

Returning 1,000-yard rusher Juanne Blount (Wingate, N.C. / Forest Hills HS) earned a spot on the FCS Running Back of the Year Watch List and tight ends Seth Cranfill (Sherrill's Ford, N.C. / Bandys HS) and Mike Estes (Raleigh, N.C. / Athens Drive HS) were each included on the FCS Tight End of the Year Watch List, making Gardner-Webb the only school in the nation with two tight ends mentioned.

The 2014 preseason poll marks only the fourth time in the league's 13 seasons that GWU has been picked lower than third. The Runnin' Bulldogs were picked to win the league in 2002 and 2003 and finished each of those seasons with Big South Conference titles.

Gardner-Webb opens the 2014 season on Saturday, August 30 at preseason top-25 foe Furman. Kickoff is set for 7:00 pm in Greenville, S.C.