BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- The Southwestern Athletic Conference announced its 2021 Preseason All-SWAC Football selections and Predicted Order of Finish on Tuesday during the league’s media day. The preseason all-conference teams, individual award winners, and predicted order of finish were voted on by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.

Alabama A&M’s Aqeel Glass was named SWAC Football Preseason Player of the Year while Southern’s Jordan Lewis was tabbed SWAC Football Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.

Alabama A&M’s Glass rewrote the record books this past season as he went 67-of-113 for 1,084 yards passing and 13 touchdowns during the regular season. One of 16 finalists for the prestigious Walter Payton Award as the national’s top FCS player, Glass was also twice named Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Player of the Week.

He would also add National Player of the Week honors from Stats Perform FCS and BOXTOROW. In large part due to his performance, the Bulldogs delivered the first undefeated regular season for the program since 1966, won the SWAC East Division for the first time since 2011, while also winning the league championship game with a 40-33 win over UAPB.

Southern’s Lewis proved to be a matchup nightmare for opposing offensive lines this past season with his quickness off the end leading the SWAC in sacks with 10.5 for 73 yards and tackles for loss with 15.0 for 82 yards.

He completed the Spring season with 27 tackles, 15.0 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks and one forced fumble. For his efforts Lewis was named the Buck Buchanan Defensive Player of the Year. The two-time SWAC Defensive Player of the Week also garnered BOXTOROW National Player of the Week and LSWA Defensive Player of the Week this past season.

The league’s 2021 Predicted Order of Finish has Alabama A&M tabbed to win the SWAC Eastern Division tallying a total of 122 points. Alcorn State (109) was picked to finish second followed by Jackson State (80), Alabama State (76), Bethune-Cookman (71), and Mississippi Valley State (25).

Alcorn State (128) was picked to finish in first place in what will be the Braves debut season in the SWAC Western Division. Southern (108) was projected to finish in second place followed by Grambling State (85), Prairie View A&M (78), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (68) and Texas Southern (37).

A complete listing of the preseason all-conference teams, individual award winners, and predicted order of finish is listed below.

SWAC Eastern Division
Alabama A&M (122)
Florida A&M (109)
Jackson State (80)
Alabama State (76)
Bethune-Cookman (71)
Mississippi Valley State (25)

SWAC Western Division
Alcorn State (128)
Southern (108)
Grambling State (85)
Prairie View A&M (78)
Arkansas-Pine Bluff (68)
Texas Southern (37)

Player of the Year
Aqeel Glass- Alabama A&M

Defensive Player of the Year
Jordan Lewis- Southern

2021 Preseason All-SWAC Football First Team Offense

2021 Preseason All-SWAC Football First Team Defense

2021 Preseason All-SWAC Football First Team Specialist

2021 Preseason All-SWAC Football Second Team Offense

2021 Preseason All-SWAC Football Second Team Defense

2021 Preseason All-SWAC Football Second Team Specialist

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Stillman College men’s basketball enters the NAIA Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll this week at No. 23, the national office announced Wednesday.

Stillman (8-1, 7-1 SSAC West) is the third among Southern States Athletic Conference teams behind No. 7 Faulkner University and No. 12 Loyola University (La.). Faulkner (16-1, 7-0) leads the SSAC East by three games. Stillman leads Loyola (10-2, 5-2) in the SSAC West standings by 1.5 games.

“We’re happy to be back in the Top 25. Anytime you can get recognized it is good for the team,” said John Teasley, Stillman head coach. “It’s been one of the craziest years. We’ve been fortunate to stay healthy so far, with us sitting out in the fall.  We knew we had to do a lot of work in a little bit of time. The guys are playing well together. The season is still early though, and we still have a lot of work to do.”

Due to COVID-19 precautions, Stillman did not practice until Dec. 28 and opened the 2020-21 season Jan. 5 with a road win at Rust College. The Tigers went on to sweep William Carey University and record a road win at the University of Mobile and a road sweep of Blue Mountain College before splitting at then-No. 5 Loyola in New Orleans, Jan. 22-23. Stillman moved to 8-1, 7-1 in the SSAC West on Jan. 26 with a home victory over Mobile. The Tigers will be off this weekend, Jan. 29-30, and will return to action Feb. 2 at Mobile.

Indiana Wesleyan (21-1) leads the national rankings with 14 first-place votes. LSU Shreveport is second with seven first-place votes. William Penn and Lewis-Clark State hold their spots at No. 3 and No. 4, while No. 5 Arizona Christian and No. 6 Shawnee State University each climbed one spot in the last two weeks. Following No. 7 Faulkner is No. 8 Science & Arts (Okla.), No. 9 Morningside (Iowa) and No. 10 Providence (Mont.), who each jumped multiple spots.

Stillman is one of three HBCUs in the Top 25. Talladega sits at No. 14 and Dillard is No. 24.

This is Stillman’s first national ranking since being ranked No. 17 on Dec. 11, 2019. The Tigers were ranked in the Top 20 for 10-straight polls from Dec. 4, 2018 until Dec. 11, 2019. The Tigers closed the 2019-2020 season receiving votes in the poll to earn an at-large bid to the NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship prior to its cancelation. While it did not receive a vote in the 2020-2021 preseason, Stillman had three points in the Jan. 13, 2021 rankings.

Statistically, Stillman ranks Top 20 in five categories: assist/turnover ratio (2nd, 1.59), 3-point defense (11th, .277), offensive rebounds per game (13th, 14.0), assists per game (15th, 17.667) and 3-point field goal percentage (19th, .390).

The next NAIA Coaches’ Top 25 poll is scheduled for Feb. 10 with the final regular season poll scheduled Feb. 24.

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But a loss to Freed-Hardeman is the last thing voters have to look at on the Tornadoes schedule prior to voting in the first regular season poll.

Talladega droped one spot to No. 20 in the NAIA Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll.

Here is the complete poll:

NAIA WBB Top 25 Poll – 2020-2021 No. 1

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