• A complete season preview for Portland State Football will be released on Aug. 3.

As the calendar turns from July to August, that means college football is just around the corner. And so, the Portland State football program will open its highly-anticipated 2012 campaign on Sunday, Aug. 5 with its first football practice at Stott Community Field. The Vikings will practice from 3-5:30 p.m. to begin the four-week lead-up to the 2012 opener.

Third-year Head Coach Nigel Burton welcomes back 51 letterwinners and 13 starters from the most improved team in the Big Sky Conference in 2011. The Vikings were 7-4 in 2011, 5-3 and third place in the Big Sky. Portland State went into the 2011 season finale entertaining hopes of an NCAA playoff bid, but fell short, losing to Weber State and finishing 7-4.

PSU will practice from 3-5:30 p.m. every day between Aug. 5-9. Doubles begin on Aug. 10 when the Vikings start at 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. The Vikings will hold scrimmages on Aug. 11 and Aug. 18, beginning at 10 a.m. each day. Football practice and scrimmages are open to the public.

The Vikings will host Carroll College in a season-opening game on Sept. 1 at JELD-WEN Field. Kickoff is 5:05 p.m. After two non-conference road games (at North Dakota on Sept. 8 and Washington on Sept. 15), PSU begins its' new-look Big Sky Conference schedule at home against Southern Utah (Sept. 22, 5:05 p.m.). The Vikings also host Idaho State (Oct. 6), Northern Colorado (Nov. 3) and Eastern Washington (Nov. 17) in league games. Big Sky road games include Northern Arizona (Sept. 29), Cal Poly (Oct. 20), UC Davis (Oct. 27) and Montana State (Nov. 10).

PORTLAND STATE PRESEASON PRACTICE SCHEDULE
Aug. 5    3-5:30 p.m.
Aug. 6    3-5:30 p.m.
Aug. 7    3-5:30 p.m.
Aug. 8    3-5:30 p.m.
Aug. 9    3-5:30 p.m.
Aug. 10    10:30-12:30, 5:30-8 p.m.
Aug. 11     Scrimmage 10 a.m.
Aug. 12    Off Day
Aug. 13    10:30-12:30, 5:30-8 p.m.
Aug. 14    3-5:30 p.m.
Aug. 15    10:30-12:30, 5:30-8 p.m.
Aug. 16    3-5:30 p.m.
Aug. 17    10:30-12:30, 5:30-8 p.m.
Aug. 18    Scrimmage 10 a.m.
Aug. 19    Off Day
Aug. 20    10:30-12:30, 5:30-8 p.m.
Aug. 21    3-5:30 p.m.
Aug. 22    10:30-12:30, 5:30-8 p.m.
Aug. 23    3-5:30 p.m.
Aug. 24    3-5:30 p.m.
Aug. 25    10 a.m.
Aug. 26    Off Day
Aug. 27    3-5:30 p.m.
Aug. 28    3-5:30 p.m.
Aug. 29    3-5:30 p.m.
Aug. 30    3-5:30 p.m.
Aug. 31    3-5:30 p.m.

PRESEASON FOOTBALL NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTS
• Portland State will have an expanded television schedule in 2012. All details have yet to be finalized, but games that are confirmed include the Sept. 15 contest against Washington on FX, which will be televised nationally. The Nov. 10 game at Montana State will be on Root Sports, which will also be available nationally on DirecTV. Other televised games will be announced soon.
• Portland State has been picked to place fourth in the expanded, 13-team Big Sky Conference in preseason coaches and media polls. The Vikings tied for third in last year's nine-team league.
• SR K Zach Brown (Keizer, OR) is a consensus preseason All-American after earning first team AA honors across the board in 2011 (24-27 FGs to lead the nation). Brown, along with SR LB Ian Sluss  (Vista, CA) and SR WR/KR Nevin Lewis (Culver, OR), were named preseason All-Big Sky Conference as well.
• The Vikings appear to have strong returning position groups at linebacker, offensive line, wide receiver and tight end. The interesting position battles will be in the offensive backfield, defensive backfield and defensive line… SO Josh Milhollin (Medford, OR), JR Collin Ramirez (Red Bluff, CA) and SR Nick Green (Ridgefield, WA) are the likely favorites to compete for the starting quarterback job. SO Shaquille Richard (Hawthorne, CA), JR DJ Adams (Atlanta, GA), JR Justin Lilley (Thousand Oaks, CA) and SR Denzel Davis (Garland, TX) are the top candidates at running back entering fall camp… PSU has restocked the defensive line with four transfers who will battle a handful of returners for starting roles. The transfers include: SR Marquis Jackson (Texas Southern), JR Nick Alexander (Boise State), JR Tomasi Molesi (Arizona Western JC) and JR Zack Ka'ahanui (Northern Arizona).
• The Pistol Offense works, as proven by the fact that the Vikings have led the Big Sky Conference in rushing each of the last two seasons. In 2011, the Vikings averaged a school record 247.8 yards rushing per game to lead the Big Sky and rank eighth in the nation.
• SR OL Kyle Ritt (Aloha, OR) is one of 12 fourth-year seniors on the roster for 2012. He is the only offensive player to compete in all 33 games over the past three years. He has the most starts of all offensive players with 32. Third-year SR WR Justin Monahan (West Linn, OR) has started every game the past two years and leads a talented receiving corps in 2012. SR CB Michael Williams is a veteran in the defensive backfield (32 games/22 starts) along with SR LB Joel Sisler (31 games/27 starts), and they will be leaders on defense.
• Head Coach Nigel Burton now has two former Washington Husky teammates on his staff: Special Teams Coordinator/DTs Coach Ikaika Malloe (EE-ky-kuh muh-LOY), and LBs Coach/Recruiting Coordinator Lester Towns.
• Among all the players scheduled to join PSU in 2012, 20 of the freshmen are from the Oregon/Vancouver, WA area. Fourteen of those are specifically from the metro area. In the original 24-player signing class of February 2012, 16 were high schoolers from the Pacific Northwest, 13 are from Oregon, and 10 from the metro area.