• Complete Phil Steele Preseason All-American Team
A pair of Ohio Valley Conference football players have been named to the Phil Steele FCS Preseason All-American Team. The selections were Austin Peay nickelback
Kordell Jackson and Tennessee State kicker
Antonio Zita.
Jackson was a first-team selection while Zita was named to the third-team.
This makes the fourth preseason honor for Jackson, who was also named to the Athlon Sports, HERO Sports and Stats Perform teams. Jackson has also been tabbed the OVC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and to the Buck Buchanan Award Watch List (given to the National Defensive Player of the Year). Jackson has been a finalist for the Buchanan award each of the past two years in addition to being the FCS ADA National Defensive Back of the Year in 2019 when he had seven interceptions. Last year Jackson led all OVC tacklers with 10.5 tackles for loss – seven of those coming in OVC play.
This marked the third preseason All-American honor for Zita, who was previously named to the Stats Perform and BOXTOROW teams. Last season Zita converted 14 field goals, leading the OVC and finishing fourth in the country with 2.0 per game. The junior impressed this season with eight field goals from beyond 40 yards, including five from 50-yards or more. He was the only kicker in the nation to have more than two field goals made from 50-plus and recorded the longest kick at all levels of the NCAA this season with a 62-yard blast against Eastern Illinois.
These teams were determined by Phil Steele & the draftscout.com staff. Draftscout.com since 2001 has been the gold standard industry leading database build for compiling & charting College Football Prospects from Prep to Pro.