"As quarterback Joe Flacco spent another day adjusting to NFL training camp with the Ravens, the league he used to play in held its preseason media day at the ESPN Zone and boasted about the competitiveness of its teams and how much a player like Flacco helps it get even stronger.

"Joe Flacco sets the bar for us," said Colonial Athletic Association commissioner Tom Yeager. "Having him be a first-round draft choice out of our conference resonates with every kid on every team and with every recruit out there. Every kid thinks he can play in the NFL, and we can say, 'That dream is achievable at CAA schools.' "

The CAA is a league in which a lot of its players, said Yeager, have been told, "they're a half-inch too short or a step too slow." But it now is also a league, he added, in which every one of its teams has requests coming in from NFL scouts.

The CAA has also put together the largest conference television package in the country among the nation's Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), with 37 games scheduled for broadcast. A total of 21 of those are combined in a conference-only package on Comcast regional television networks CN8, The Comcast Network and Comcast Sports Net."