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Talent widespread among STATS FCS Preseason All-Americans
(STATS) - The offensive fireworks in the FCS were impressive enough last year, but the 2017 season could get even brighter and louder.
Few should be anxious to try to stop the offensive skill position players on the STATS FCS Preseason All-America Team that was announced Monday - perhaps not even the defensive players on the three-team, 97-player squad.
It's a banner list headlined by quarterbacks Jeremiah Briscoe of Sam Houston State and Gage Gubrud of Eastern Washington, Fordham running back Chase Edmonds and South Dakota State's dynamic receiving duo, tight end Dallas Goedert and wide receiver Jake Wieneke.
All 13 conferences and 55 schools had selections. The Missouri Valley Football Conference had the most with 17, while CAA Football was second with 14, the Big Sky third with 11 and the Ohio Valley and the Southland tied for fourth with 10 each. Among schools, South Dakota State led the way with six selections, North Dakota State and Sam Houston State had five each and 2016 FCS champion James Madison four.
The record-setting ability on offense is particularly impressive. Briscoe, who won the 2016 STATS FCS Walter Payton Award as the national offensive player of the year, passed for 57 touchdowns, a single-season record in the division, as well as 4,602 yards. He was so good that Gubrud and his FCS-record 5,160 passing yards were rendered to the second team. They hold the same positions on the preseason team.
Edmonds led the FCS in rushing yards per game (163.5), finishing with 1,799 yards and 19 touchdowns on 257 carries. He has 5,285 career rushing yards entering his senior season, which puts him on pace to surpass former Georgia Southern running back Adrian Peterson's FCS all-time rushing record of 6,559 yards.
South Dakota State's seniors Goedert and Wieneke were unstoppable in combining for 170 receptions, 2,609 yards and 27 touchdown catches last season. They caught passes from Taryn Christion, the preseason third-team quarterback along with Samford's record-setter Devlin Hodges, who was third in the FCS behind Gubrud and Briscoe with 4,088 yards and 36 touchdown passes.
Also named to the first-team offense were Albany running senior Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks, Cal Poly fullback Joe Protheroe, Penn wide receiver Justin Watson, and offensive linemen Justin Lea of Jacksonville State, Jacob Ohnesorge of South Dakota State, Brandon Parker of North Carolina A&T, Timon Parris of Stony Brook and Aaron Stinnie of James Madison.
If any defense could slow all those offensive standouts, it would be members of the preseason All-America team. Like the offense, the defensive first team was senior-laden, including dominant pass rushers in defensive ends Pat Afriyie of Colgate, Anthony Ellis of Charleston Southern, P.J. Hall of Sam Houston State and Darius Jackson of Jacksonville State. Hall was the runner-up for the 2016 STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award, which honors the national defensive player of the year.
The linebackers were Nick DeLuca of North Dakota State, Darius Leonard of South Carolina State, Christian Rozeboom of South Dakota State and Brett Taylor of Western Illinois. Monmouth's Mike Basile, Jacksonville State's Marlon Bridges, North Dakota's Cole Reyes and Villanova's Rob Rolle were the defensive backs.
The first-team special-teamers were Tennessee State kicker Lane Clark, Western Carolina punter Ian Berryman, North Dakota State long snapper James Fisher, North Dakota kickoff returner John Santiago, North Carolina A&T punt returner Khris Gardin and Princeton all-purpose standout John Lovett.
The three teams included 37 players who earned STATS All-America honors after the 2016 season.
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2017 STATS FCS PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA TEAM=
FIRST TEAM
OFFENSE
QB - Jeremiah Briscoe, senior, 6-3, 220, Sam Houston State
RB - Chase Edmonds, senior, 5-9, 210, Fordham
RB - Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks, junior, 5-9, 199, Albany
FB - Joe Protheroe, senior, 6-0, 225, Cal Poly
WR - Justin Watson, senior, 6-3, 210, Penn
WR - Jake Wieneke, senior, 6-4, 215, South Dakota State
TE - Dallas Goedert, senior, 6-5, 250, South Dakota State
OL - Justin Lea, senior, 6-4, 290, Jacksonville State
OL - Jacob Ohnesorge, senior, 6-3, 285, South Dakota State
OL - Brandon Parker, senior, 6-7, 299, North Carolina A&T
OL - Timon Parris, senior, 6-5, 310, Stony Brook
OL - Aaron Stinnie, senior, 6-5, 290, James Madison
DEFENSE
DL - Pat Afriyie, senior, 6-2, 235, Colgate
DL - Anthony Ellis, senior, 6-1, 245, Charleston Southern
DL - P.J. Hall, senior, 6-1, 280, Sam Houston State
DL - Darius Jackson, senior, 6-3, 237, Jacksonville State
LB - Nick DeLuca, senior, 6-3, 248, North Dakota State
LB - Darius Leonard, senior, 6-3, 220, South Carolina State
LB - Christian Rozeboom, sophomore, 6-2, 220, South Dakota State
LB - Brett Taylor, senior, 6-2, 230, Western Illinois
DB - Mike Basile, senior, 6-1, 200, Monmouth
DB - Marlon Bridges, sophomore, 6-1, 210, Jacksonville State
DB - Cole Reyes, senior, 6-2, 215, North Dakota
DB - Rob Rolle, senior, 6-0, 190, Villanova
SPECIAL TEAMS
K - Lane Clark, senior, 5-11, 170, Tennessee State
P - Ian Berryman, junior, 6-0, 205, Western Carolina
LS - James Fisher, senior, 6-2, 216, North Dakota State
KR - John Santiago, junior, 5-9, 180, North Dakota
PR - Khris Gardin, senior, 5-7, 165, North Carolina A&T
AP - John Lovett, senior, 6-3, 225, Princeton
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SECOND TEAM=
OFFENSE
QB - Gage Gubrud, junior, 6-2, 195, Eastern Washington
RB - Corey Avery, senior, 5-10, 190, Sam Houston State
RB - Detrez Newsome, senior, 5-10, 210, Western Carolina
FB - Anthony Manzo-Lewis, senior, 6-2, 245, Albany
WR - Emmanuel Butler, senior, 6-3, 210, Northern Arizona
WR - Kamron Lewis, junior, 6-4, 195, Saint Francis
WR - Troy Pelletier, senior, 6-3, 205, Lehigh
TE - Andrew Vollert, senior, 6-5, 245, Weber State
OL - Daniel Cooney, junior, 6-8, 315, San Diego
OL - Ben Huss, senior, 6-2, 307, Duquesne
OL - Jacob Judd, senior, 6-3, 300, Western Illinois
OL - Stockton Mallet, senior, 6-3, 307, Central Arkansas
OL - Skyler Phillips, senior, 6-2, 322, Idaho State
DEFENSE
DL - Andrew Ankrah, senior, 6-4, 234, James Madison
DL - Miles Brown, junior, 6-1, 310, Wofford
DL - Kurt Holuba, senior, 6-4, 270, Princeton
DL - Greg Menard, senior, 6-2, 239, North Dakota State
DL - Ebenezer Ogundeko, senior, 6-3, 255, Tennessee State
LB - Solomon Brown, junior, 6-1, 220, Charleston Southern
LB - Garrett Dolan, senior, 6-2, 240, Houston Baptist
LB - Jared Farley, senior, 5-11, 221, Northern Iowa
LB - Shaheed Salmon, senior, 6-1, 226, Samford
DB - Tre Dempsey, senior, 5-10, 179, North Dakota State
DB - Kahlid Hagens, senior, 6-3, 200, UT Martin
DB - Davontae Harris, senior, 6-0, 200, Illinois State
DB - Tremon Smith, senior, 6-0, 186, Central Arkansas
DB - Kailik Williams, senior, 5-11, 185, The Citadel
SPECIAL TEAMS
K - Griffin Trau, junior, 5-8, 180, Richmond
P - Keith Wrzuszczak, senior, 5-11, 202, Eastern Kentucky
LS - Hunter Winstead, senior, 6-0, 240, Liberty
KR - Shane Simpson, sophomore, 5-9, 185, Towson
PR - Londell Lee, senior, 6-2, 210, UT Martin
AP - Harold Cooper, senior, 5-9, 183, Rhode Island
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THIRD TEAM=
OFFENSE
QB - Taryn Christion, junior, 6-2, 215, South Dakota State
QB - Devlin Hodges, junior, 6-1, 213, Samford
RB - Dom Bragalone, junior, 5-11, 215, Lehig
RB - Anthony Philyaw, senior, 6-1, 205, Howard
RB - Deontez Thompson, sophomore, 6-0, 200, Richmond
FB - Kane Louscher, senior, 6-2, 245, South Dakota State
WR - Yedidiah Louis, senior, 5-8, 187, Sam Houston State
WR - Patrick Smith, senior, 6-0, 190, Tennessee State
TE - Jonathan Kloosterman, senior, 6-3, 245, James Madison
OL - Frank Cirone, senior, 6-3, 280, Charleston Southern
OL - Jamil Demby, senior, 6-5, 310, Maine
OL - Chris Durant, senior, 6-4, 310, William & Mary
OL - Justin Spencer, senior, 6-5, 305, Youngstown State
OL - Tyler Tezeno, senior, 6-4, 317, Sam Houston State
DEFENSE
DL - Abdullah Anderson, senior, 6-4, 295, Bucknell
DL - Keontre Anderson, senior, 6-3, 240, Jackson State
DL - Jonathan Petersen, senior, 6-1, 230, San Diego
DL - Jay-Tee Tiuli, senior, 6-4, 315, Eastern Washington
DL - Juwan Wells, junior, 6-2, 255, Liberty
LB - Mac Bignell, senior, 6-1, 205, Montana State
LB - George Odum, senior, 6-2, 190, Central Arkansas
LB - Chad Meredith, senior, 6-4, 244, Southeast Missouri
LB - Dale Warren, junior, 6-0, 215, Chattanooga
DB - Raven Greene, senior, 6-0, 200, James Madison
DB - Robbie Grimsley, junior, 6-0, 183, North Dakota State
DB - Danny Johnson, senior, 5-10, 195, Southern
DB - Taron Johnson, senior, 6-0, 180, Weber State
DB - Omari Williams, senior, 6-1, 190, Samford
SPECIAL TEAMS
K - Alex Probert, sophomore, 5-9, 170, Liberty
P - Jacob DeMaio, senior, 6-5, 205, Weber State
LS - Danny Garza, senior, 6-0, 230, Houston Baptist
KR - Deion Holliman, senior, 5-9, 188, Missouri State
PR - Terry Wallen, senior, 5-11, 182, Drake
AP - Justice Shelton-Mosley, junior, 5-10, 195, Harvard
