The Missouri Valley Football Conference has announced its 2018 preseason defense all-league units.  North Dakota State leads the way with four first-team selections. [Offense was announced Tuesday, July 31.]

Ten seniors, five juniors and a sophomore highlight the first-team offensive squad, while all 10 league schools have representation on either the first- or second-team unit.  Western Illinois, with three first-team picks, is second only to NDSU's four honorees.

Full Preseason Team and Poll (PDF)

Nine of the 16 players honored on the first-team defense appeared on Tuesday's STATS FCS All-America Teams, including first-team selections Khalen Saunders of Western Illinois, Christian Rozeboom of South Dakota State and Robbie Grimsley of North Dakota State. 

 

The league has four first-team selections at defensive line, including the aforementioned Saunders of WIU, teammates Aaron Steidl and Greg Menard of North Dakota State and Darin Greenfield of South Dakota.  Menard missed all of 2017 with a knee injury.  Greenfield led the league in tackles for loss last year (19.5), while Saunders was in the top six in both sacks and TFLs.  Last year's first-team punter Lane Reazin of Southern Illinois (43.6 avg.) and Steve McShane of Western Illinois (103.8 all-purpose yards/game) headline the selections at punter and return specialist, respectively.




Five players are featured at linebacker, including Rickey Neal of UNI, who played defensive line last year.  Neal led the league in sacks and was second with 15.0 TFLs.  Jabril Cox of NDSU was the league's Freshman and Newcomer of the Year and is the only sophomore represented on the First Team.  They are joined by SDSU's Christian Rozeboom (128 tackles), Youngstown State's Armand Dellovade (76) and Missouri State's Angelo Garbutt (84).



The defensive backfield is a veteran group, featuring four seniors (of five selected).  Jordan Brown of SDSU (12 passes defended), Jeremy Chinn of Southern Illinois (9), Justin Fitzpatrick of Western Illinois (11) and Robbie Grimsley of NDSU (12) are among the Top 7 returnees in the league in that category. Andrew Gray of USD had six passes defended and also led the Yotes with 90 total tackles.