NORMAL, Ill. – A run to the 2024 postseason and a great offseason has propelled the Illinois State football team into the upper echelon of FCS programs, as the Redbirds were picked sixth in the Stats Perform FCS Preseason Top 25 Poll announced on Monday.
Defending FCS national champion North Dakota State received 54 of the 56 first-place votes in the national media poll to take the top spot in the preseason Top 25. Montana State, the 2024 Big Sky Conference champ, was No. 2 in the preseason poll followed by South Dakota State and South Dakota at No. 3 and 4, respectively, while defending Southland Conference champion UIW followed at No. 5 just ahead of the Redbirds.
Nine of the 13 FCS leagues were represented in the Top 25, led by the Big Sky with six ranked teams. The Missouri Valley Football Conference featured four teams in the top 6 overall in the preseason poll, with Southern Illinois coming in at No. 20 to give the league five selections overall.
The Redbirds return 39 letterwinners and 16 starters from last year's squad, including six players who were selected as preseason All-Americans by Stats Perform. Junior linebacker Tye Niekamp and senior longsnapper Dylan Calabrese were named First-Team selections, senior wide receiver Daniel Sobkowicz and senior running back Wenkers Wright earned Second-Team honors, and senior quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse and junior defensive lineman Jake Anderson garnered Third-Team plaudits.
In addition, four players were named to national player of the year watch lists by Stats Perform including Niekamp and Anderson who were named to Buck Buchanan Award watch list and Wright and Sobkowicz who were selected for the Walter Payton Award watch list.
Illinois State appeared in every Stats Perform FCS Top 25 poll last season, finishing as high as No. 11 in the final poll of the year. The Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll will be released each Monday during the regular season and one day after the FCS championship game (scheduled for Jan. 5 in Nashville, Tennessee).
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